Coinbase staff axed amid ‘crypto winter’

The leading crypto exchange has laid off a fifth of its workforce – including key Asia Pacific personnel – amid a bitcoin bloodbath.

Monitors display Coinbase signage during the company's initial public offering in New York last year. Picture: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg

Multiple Coinbase Asia-Pacific staff have been laid off, with the cryptocurrency exchange axing around a fifth of its workforce – about 1100 jobs – amid what chief executive Brian Armstrong has described as a “crypto winter”.

Coinbase employees will learn today via their personal email account whether they have lost their jobs, Mr Armstrong said in an all-staff letter, given access to their company systems will be immediately terminated.

“I realise that removal of access will feel sudden and unexpected, and this is not the experience I wanted for you,” Mr Armstrong wrote.

“I want to say thank you for giving everything to this company, and that I am sorry. I hope that as we grow again we get a chance to hire you back. We would not be where we are today without your hard work and dedication to our mission. I am incredibly grateful for everything you have done to contribute to our success.”

Clinton Gleave, the company’s recruitment manager for APAC, said in a LinkedIn post that he lost access to Coinbase’s company systems before being notified of his termination.

Brian Armstrong, co-founder and chief executive of Coinbase. Picture: Michael Short/Bloomberg

“After building our entire APAC expansion from scratch, even overperforming, I’ve been laid off from Coinbase and have 30 days to pick up my entire life and leave Singapore after 12 years in Asia,” he wrote in the post.

“I know our CEO didn’t make this decision lightly, and have nothing but respect for Brian Armstrong, but that doesn’t change the impact.”

Coinbase has been contacted for further comment as to how many Australian-based staff have been affected by the lay-offs.

The company was hiring an Australian Head of Marketing last month, according to a job advertisement on LinkedIn. It’s unclear whether it filled the position.

“We lost systems before being notified, I even just reserved a place for team drinks for tomorrow,” Mr Gleave wrote.

“If you see this feel free to take over the reservation. For now just a huge thank you to everyone I met on the journey and happy BUIDL’ing.”

Smaller Coinbase competitor BlockFi also announced a 20 per cent reduction in headcount, affecting about 170 jobs, overnight.

“Like many others in tech, we’ve been impacted by the dramatic shift in macroeconomic conditions, which have had a negative impact on our growth rate,” CEO Zac Prince said in a statement.

The price of bitcoin has been in free fall in recent days, hitting a two-year low amid widespread investor panic.

The drop was fuelled further by two major crypto exchanges suspending their transactions, with The Celsius Network citing ‘extreme market conditions’ for the pause, affecting its 1.7 million customers, while Binance also temporarily halted withdrawals.