On the evening of June 14, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong posted a “shocking” announcement, saying that he would lay off more than 18% of the company’s workforce, equivalent to about 1,100 employees. Among the reasons Armstrong gave is that the financial and crypto markets are collapsing and showing signs of a recession, forcing the exchange to cut costs.
Since January 2021 when Coinbase reached 1,250 employees, the firm has grown nearly 5 times (about 6,100 employees) in the past 18 months. Their employee costs are “too high to effectively manage this uncertain market.”
All departing employees will receive a notification from HR in the coming hours, as well as receive unemployment benefits from Coinbase. At the beginning of June, Coinbase announced it was halting hiring and even canceling agreements with previously accepted candidates. This has caused outrage from the crypto community. In its financial statements for Q1/2022, the company announced a loss of $430 million.
Coinbase stock price has been steadily plunging over the past few days, ending the June 13 session at $52 – down 88% from the peak of $430 in April 2021.
Amid bear market, not only Coinbase but many other crypto companies also decided to slash staffs such as Crypto.com (260 employees), BlockFi (cut 20% of its staff), BitMEX (75 employees), Bitso (80 employees), Gemini (10%), Rain Financial, Buenbit (75%), and more. Meanwhile, the two largest crypto exchanges in the market today, Binance and FTX, still plan to continue hiring and expand their scale.
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