Coinbase Lays Off Over 60 Employees Amid Crypto Market Turmoil

The crypto exchange continues to reduce its headcount in the protracted bear market.

By Kate Irwin

Resignations and layoffs are common during bear markets. Image: Shutterstock.

Coinbase is laying off more than 60 staff in its recruiting and institutional onboarding departments, The Information reported Thursday. 

While not nearly as shocking as Meta’s move to layoff over 11,000 employees a few days ago, Coinbase’s latest round of layoffs is a sign that the exchange may still be trying to cut costs in the ongoing bear market—a development that barely moves the needle during a week that's overflowing with bad news for the crypto sector.

Coinbase’s layoffs also come just five months after the exchange laid off 18% of its staff to prepare for what it said at the time could be an “extended crypto winter.”

CEO Brian Armstrong previously said that Coinbase had “overhired” and had to purge its workforce accordingly. In June, Coinbase also froze its hiring process and rescinded job offers it had already extended to candidates, some of whom then expressed their frustration online. 

Others added their names to a database of candidates that Coinbase launched in an effort to help individuals find jobs at other companies.

Coinbase does appear to be struggling in this bear market—its quarterly revenue is down 28% and trading volumes fell 27% during Q3 of this year. Coinbase’s stock is also down nearly 80% this year and down 27.4% this month alone. 

The exchange also just lost its Chief Product Officer, Surojit Chatterjee, who it had poached from Google three years ago for a massive $646 million compensation package. Chatterjee is taking some time off and will become an advisor to Armstrong until at least February 2023, according to a Coinbase filing with the SEC.

But there may be a silver lining amidst the bad news: Armstrong has said that Coinbase does not have any exposure to crumbling rival exchange FTX or its sister company Alameda Research. 

And Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest appears to be interested in Coinbase’s stock despite its plunge this year. The firm purchased $21.4 million worth of COIN stock earlier this week.

Coinbase has not yet responded to Decrypt’s request for comment.