Coinbase announced Tuesday, June 14th, that it will lay off 18% of its workforce in another sign of a worsening crypto downturn that’s shaved off hundreds of millions of the total cryptocurrency market value. The U.S.’ biggest crypto exchange is following in the footsteps of other cryptocurrency-related businesses that have recently cut staff, including rival exchange Gemini and lender BlockFi, both of which cited the arrival of a crypto winter — a prolonged downturn — as the reason for the layoffs.
In a message he also posted on Medium, Coinbase Chief Executive Brian Armstrong said laid-off employees would be notified via their email accounts and immediately lose access to their company email accounts.
“I realize that removal of access will feel sudden and unexpected, and this is not the experience I wanted for you,” he wrote. “Given the number of employees who have access to sensitive customer information, it was, unfortunately, the only practical choice to ensure not even a single person made a rash decision that harmed the business or themselves.”
