The gloom over cryptocurrencies continued on Tuesday, with one of the largest trading platforms in the sector announcing it would cut 18% of its staff.
Coinbase, which went public in a high-profile IPO last year, announced plans for layoffs in a blog post authored by company president Brian Armstrong, who said it had increased its staff by more than 300 percent since early 2021. “It’s already clear to me that we’ve hired too much.”
“We seem to be in a recession,” Armstrong said. “The recession could lead to a new crypto winter and could continue for a long time.”
The reduction of 18% of Coinbase’s staff resulted in the loss of about 1,100 people.
The cuts add to 20 percent of the cuts announced by BlockFi and five percent on Crypto.com, announced on Monday, when the prices of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin fell to their lowest level since 2020.
The sale of cryptocurrencies continued on Tuesday, as the price of bitcoin briefly fell below $ 21,000. The value of the world’s largest cryptocurrency has fallen by 20% in the last three days and has fallen by about two-thirds since reaching its highest level of nearly $ 70,000 in the United States last November.
Armstrong said any staff who lost their jobs would be notified in their personal emails, “because we decided to reduce access to Coinbase systems for affected employees.”
“Coinbase employees are among the most talented in the world, and I’m sure the skills you possess will continue to be sought after by companies around the world,” said Armstrong, who has a net worth of $ 2.1 billion in the United States. largely based on his share of ownership in the company.
Coinbase says the compensation packages will cost the company approximately $ 45 million.
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