The Questions Raised by Coinbase's Job Cuts

How quickly we’ve switched from companies “slowing hiring” to mass layoffs. Coinbase wasn’t the only company from the broadly defined tech sector to institute job cuts today (see below). But the crypto exchange’s decision on Tuesday to slash its workforce by 18% was the most clearly symbolic of how fast the environment has changed, in crypto and in the broader tech scene. 

Consider that the number of people Coinbase laid off today—1,100—is roughly the same number Coinbase has hired since the end of March. So while it seems like Coinbase is taking a big whack out of its workforce, the company is simply shrinking its employee count back to what it was two and a half months ago—around 5,000. That is still significantly more than the 3,730 people Coinbase had at the end of 2021, let alone the 1,250 people Coinbase had at the start of last year. One question that raises, then, is whether these cuts will be anywhere near enough, given the scale of the crypto downturn we could be about to endure.