Coinbase cuts 700 jobs as CEO cites AI acceleration and crypto market volatility

Coinbase lays off nearly 700 workers in 'AI-native' restructuring - Engadget

Coinbase is the latest tech company to gut its workforce as part of an AI-centric restructuring. The company will lay off approximately 14 percent of its total headcount, CEO Brian Armstrong wrote in a blog post. According to Reuters, that equates to around 700 employees. Armstrong claimed he'd seen engineers "use AI to ship in days what used to take a team weeks" and that non-technical teams in the company are "shipping production code," while Coinbase is automating many of its workflows. "All of this has led us to an inflection point, not just for Coinbase, but for every company," Armstrong wrote. "The biggest risk now is not taking action. We are adjusting early and deliberately to rebuild Coinbase to be lean, fast and AI-native. We need to return to the speed and focus of our startup founding, with AI at our core." Many companies have cited advancements in AI-driven efficiencies as a reason (or excuse) to reduce their headcounts. Meta said last month it was cutting another 8,000 jobs, while Amazon laid off 14,000 people last October. An AI-driven restructuring is only one half of the equation for Coinbase, though. Armstrong wrote that while the company "is well-capitalized, has diversified revenue streams and is well-positioned to weather any storm," the crypto market is down. As such, Coinbase is attempting to become leaner and faster ahead of the next crypto cycle. The company is eliminating some management layers and organizing the business around "AI-native talent who can manage fleets of agents to drive outsized impact," Armstrong wrote. "We'll also be experimenting with reduced pod sizes, including 'one person teams' with engineers, designers and product managers all in one role." That sure sounds like an attempt to get workers to take on more responsibilities. Those being laid off in the US will receive 16 weeks of base pay, along with two weeks of pay for each year they spent at Coinbase. Severance packages will also include employees' next equity vesting and six months of COBRA coverage. Affected workers elsewhere will receive a similar package, according to Armstrong.

Coinbase cuts headcount by 14% citing AI acceleration. The shares are gaining

Monitors display Coinbase signage during the company's initial public offering at the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York City on April 14, 2021. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said Tuesday that the company will cut roughly 14% of its workforce, citing a combination of market volatility and the how AI is quickly changing how the company operates. The move comes ahead of Coinbase's first-quarter earnings, which the company is scheduled to report Thursday. Shares were up more than 3% in premarket trading. In a memo to employees, which he shared on X early Tuesday, Armstrong described the decision as necessary to position the firm for its "next phase of growth" while navigating the current downturn in the crypto market. He cited two "forces converging at the same time": the current pullback in the crypto market and "AI changing how we work." Although crypto is "on the verge of the next wave of adoption," he said, "our business is still volatile from quarter to quarter ... we're currently in a down market and need to adjust our cost structure now so that we emerge from this period leaner, faster, and more efficient for our next phase of growth." Furthermore, "the pace of what's possible with a small, focused team has changed dramatically, and it's accelerating every day," he said about AI. "We are adjusting early and deliberately to rebuild Coinbase to be lean, fast, and AI-native. We need to return to the speed and focus of our startup founding, with AI at our core." Coinbase's move comes amid a broader wave of tech industry layoffs tied to a ramp in AI investment. Earlier this year, Block announced a reduction of "nearly half" of its workforce, citing an "opportunity to move faster with smaller, highly talented teams using AI to automate more work." Other companies like Pinterest, CrowdStrike and Chegg have recently announced job cuts attributing the layoffs to AI reshaping their workforces. Across the crypto industry, exchanges are leaning away from the hype cycle and returns-driven revenue streams that initially propelled their businesses initially, and instead are leaning into a more disciplined phase centered around regulation, compliance and institutions. Rather than a pivot into AI, Armstrong reiterated his bullishness on the future of crypto, citing stablecoins, prediction markets and tokenization as fueling the "next wave of adoption." This isn't the first time Coinbase has carried out layoffs during a crypto downturn, it made significant cuts as the market declined in 2022.

Coinbase Lays Off 14% of Employees as A.I. Changes Work

Coinbase, the largest U.S. crypto exchange, said on Tuesday that it planned to lay off about 14 percent of its workers amid volatility in the cryptocurrency market and as artificial intelligence changes how people work. The cuts affect about 700 of the company's nearly 5,000 employees, Coinbase said in a corporate filing, and the restructuring will cost about $50 million to $60 million in severance payments, termination benefits and other expenses. "A.I. is bringing a profound shift in how companies operate, and we're reshaping Coinbase to lead in this new era," Brian Armstrong, Coinbase's chief executive, wrote in a social media post about the layoffs. "This is a new way of working, and we need to leverage A.I. across every facet of our jobs." Mr. Armstrong said Coinbase planned to have smaller teams, with people who manage A.I. agents -- digital bots that can handle coding tasks -- as well as human managers who would need to get "their hands dirty alongside their teams." Coinbase did not respond to requests for comment. Coinbase is the latest tech company to point to A.I. as the reason for cutting jobs. While many industries have debated how the powerful technology might change the way they work, the one industry that is unquestionably being disrupted is the tech industry itself. That's partly because A.I. tools have become stronger at generating code, which affects the software engineers who underpin many digital businesses. In February, Block, the financial technology company, laid of 40 percent of its workers, or roughly 4,000 people, citing A.I.'s rapid improvement. Last month, Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, said it planned to cut 10 percent of its work force, or roughly 8,000 employees, and close another 6,000 open roles, as it spends heavily on developing A.I. Microsoft also offered early retirement to thousands of long-serving employees last month as it looks to thin its ranks amid major A.I. investments. Coinbase, founded in San Francisco in 2012, is a cryptocurrency exchange that allows people to buy and sell digital currencies like Bitcoin. The company has said its revenue depends upon the price of crypto assets and the volume of trades on its platform. In his post, Mr. Armstrong said A.I. had led to "an inflection point." He said the biggest risk was not to take any action and so his company was "adjusting early and deliberately to rebuild Coinbase to be lean, fast, and A.I.-native." Mr. Armstrong also cited cryptocurrency market volatility as a reason to restructure now, saying "we're currently in a down market and need to adjust our cost structure now." Coinbase would ultimately have fewer layers under the chief executive and chief operating officer, he said, and would move more quickly and efficiently.

Coinbase to Layoff 14% of Workforce Amid AI Disruption and Crypto Volatility

On Tuesday, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong revealed that roughly 14% of the crypto exchange’s workforce will be laid off. Armstrong cited volatility in the crypto market and the company's expanding adoption of AI tools as the main reasons behind the move. Coinbase is far from the first crypto business to blame AI for cuts to its workforce. It has become a common story over the past few months, with key Coinbase competitors Gemini and Crypto.com making similar moves in March. Armstrong outlined the decision in an email sent to all Coinbase employees and later posted on X. According to Armstrong, the crypto market remains volatile from one quarter to the next, even as the company sits on diversified revenue and prepares for growth in areas like stablecoins and tokenization. At the same time, AI has accelerated workflows so that engineers now complete work in a day that once required weeks from entire teams, while non-technical staff are now handling production code. To adapt, Coinbase will flatten its structure to a maximum of five layers below the CEO and COO and eliminate roles filled only by managers. Impacted employees will receive at least 16 weeks of base pay, two additional weeks for each year of service at the company, their next equity vest, and six months of COBRA coverage in the United States with comparable support elsewhere. “Over the past 13 years, we have weathered four crypto winters, gone public, and built the most trusted platform in our industry,†Armstrong posted. “We’ve made it this far by making hard decisions and by always staying focused on our mission. This time will be no different â€" nothing has changed about the long term outlook of our company or industry.â€Â Everything Armstrong says about the productivity gains from AI should probably be taken with a grain of salt. Even OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has repeatedly warned in recent weeks that tech companies are likely to blame unrelated layoffs on AI after the industry went through an extended period of overhiring that kicked off during the pandemic. Gemini has already cut 30% of its workforce since the start of the year while rolling out AI tools aimed at higher productivity. Crypto.com followed in March with a 12% reduction after CEO Kris Marszalek declared the firm was integrating AI at every level and warned that companies skipping the shift would fail. Block (formerly Square) took the first and largest step, reducing its staff from about 10,000 to 6,000. In a note to employees, Jack Dorsey said intelligence tools now support smaller, flatter teams and predicted that within the next year, most companies would reach the same conclusion and restructure; however, market analysts expressed some skepticism of Dorsey’s reasoning, noting that many executives still see only modest productivity gains from AI investments and that post-pandemic hiring bloat may explain more of the cuts than new technology. Bitcoin miners have taken the AI pivot even further as mining returns have weakened. The most recent halving combined with bitcoin trading at roughly half its October all-time high near $125,000, at one point. Reduced profitability pushed companies to seek new revenue. These firms already operate the kind of power-hungry facilities that AI workloads require, which has made the pivot that much easier. Cango, Bitdeer, IREN, Core Scientific, and Riot Platforms are a few of the big names that have moved into the AI business. Some bitcoin miners have abandoned the crypto asset completely, while others are simply diversifying into new revenue streams. Decentralized finance (DeFi) projects faced even steeper and potentially existential problems. April saw 29 separate hacks that drained $651 million, which is the highest monthly total since March 2022 (not counting last year’s Bybit incident). In the wake of recent attacks, centralized backstops have oftentimes been used, which has led to a crisis of purpose for the supposedly decentralized financial technology. For example, Arbitrum’s Security Council froze more than 30,000 ether valued at about $71 million from the Kelp DAO exploit and transferred the funds to a governance wallet without an on-chain vote. These interventions, alongside the dominance of centrally issued stablecoins such as Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC, have intensified criticism of the sector’s direction, which has seemingly pivoted away from Bitcoin’s original design as a permissionless peer-to-peer cash system and closer to conventional fintech.

AI becomes the easy alibi for waves of layoffs

Why it matters: Companies are increasingly blaming AI for job cuts, but the evidence points to a messier mix of automation, cost-cutting and market pressure. Driving the news: Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong told employees Tuesday the firm will lay off about 700 workers and rebuild around "AI-native" pods and talent. * Armstrong first acknowledged market conditions in the layoff memo, citing crypto volatility. * Coinbase did not respond to a request for comment. What they're saying: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has warned that some companies are "AI-washing" layoffs -- blaming AI for cuts they might have made anyway. Zoom out: Coinbase joins Block, Pinterest and Shopify in tying workforce cuts or restructurings to AI, though it is often hard to tell whether automation drove the layoffs or merely helped justify them. * Of all these companies, Block is the only stock beating the S&P 500 year-to-date (it popped after announcing its AI-driven job cuts.) * None of the companies appears to have offered concrete AI productivity metrics on earnings calls before announcing the cuts. * Goldman Sachs economist Joseph Briggs told Axios that those metrics are one way to separate genuine AI-driven job losses from executive narrative-building. There could be a near-term impact on unemployment, Briggs told Axios. But he thinks AI will create new jobs in the long term. * He sees about a half-a-point increase in the overall long-term unemployment rate due to AI adoption, which he calls a relatively "benign view." * He did acknowledge that unemployment could spike in the short-term if the AI transition happens very quickly. Follow the money: Some technologists argue the AI-layoff narrative gives employers leverage over workers. * Mo Bitar, a developer and founder, argued in a recent video that talk of AI-driven job loss can "spook" workers into accepting lower wages. * Bitar argues that if workers believe AI makes them more replaceable, they may be less likely to ask for raises or switch jobs -- freeing companies to redirect more money toward AI software and infrastructure. * Briggs said that theory "makes sense" in the near term, but historically, productivity gains tend to push wages higher over time -- meaning AI could eventually lift pay rather than suppress it. Yes, but: AI was the single largest cited reason for U.S. layoffs through Q1, per Challenger, Gray & Christmas data. * Briggs said AI-related layoff claims are most credible at large tech companies, where the technology is already being used heavily and more roles are directly exposed to automation. * Larger tech firms have already fully corrected from a post-COVID hiring boom, retreating to their long-run employment trends. Between the lines: For now, AI is creating more jobs than it's killing, in part due to a surge in data center construction, according to Goldman Sachs. * Just 20% of 1,200 CEOs expect AI to reduce hiring, down from 46% in 2024, per an EY-Parthenon survey out Monday. The bottom line: AI-linked layoffs may be overstated in the short term, even as the technology reshapes hiring and wages over time.

Freshworks and Coinbase announce more than 1 in 10 jobs to go as companies replace workforce with AI technologies -- tech company layoffs near 100K in 2026 alone

* More companies are laying off employees, with AI cited as a reason * Freshwords is reducing its headcount by 11% * Coinbase is cutting its employee count by 14% Artificial intelligence is being referenced as the cause of more job losses as two more companies join the list of tech companies laying off employees in 2026. Freshworks has announced it will trim 11% of its workforce, or about 500 jobs, as the company addresses routine work with AI and automation. Coinbase is also set to lay off around 14% of its workforce, or 700 jobs, as the company moves towards becoming 'AI-native'. Layoffs near 100,000 in 2026 Layoff tracker Layoffs.fyi places the total number of tech job layoffs at 93,294 so far in 2026. Speaking to Reuters, Freshworks CEO Dennis Woodside said the workforce reduction was due to the company seeing routine work being reduced by AI and automation. "Over half our code is written by AI," he said, adding that the company's use of automation had cut down on the "rote work that technology can take care of." Coinbase pointed to market factors and AI as the joint causes behind its workforce reduction, with CEO Brian Armstrong issuing a blog post explaining the reasoning behind the decision. "We are adjusting early and deliberately to rebuild Coinbase to be lean, fast, and AI-native," Armstrong said. March 2026 was the worst month for tech layoffs since 2024, with AI commonly being cited as either the main cause, or a contributing factor in many cases. While Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang may say that AI creates jobs, and that 'AI doomers' are casting a negative light on the technology, the metrics on the number of layoffs are less muddy than the number of jobs AI has created. Meta recently announced it was trimming its headcount by 10%, or around 8,000 jobs, as the company attempts to address rapidly rising AI spend across data centers and compute. This reduction would act as the first phase of a previous announcement by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg in March 2026 that said the company could see its headcount reduced by as much as 20%, or 16,000 jobs, as AI technology increases efficiency. Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds.

Coinbase didn't just lay off 14% of its staff due to AI. It replaced managers with 'player-coaches' and turned its org chart upside down | Fortune

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong is adapting the company for the AI age, cutting 14% of employees and reimagining its org chart to bring the company back to its startup roots. Armstrong said the layoffs, which could affect just under 700 employees based on Coinbase's last employee count, are partly due to a crypto downturn. Yet, the main motivator is making the company's leadership structure flatter, enabling its employees to work fast, with AI at the forefront. In practice, this means cutting what Armstrong dubs "pure managers," opting instead for "player-coaches" who oversee team members, but are also strong individual contributors. The company is also planning to leverage its most AI savvy employees by creating "AI-native pods," which could even include one-person teams directing agents that encompass the responsibilities of engineers, designers, and product managers. "We are not just reducing headcount and cutting costs, we're fundamentally changing how we operate: rebuilding Coinbase as an intelligence, with humans around the edge aligning it," Armstrong wrote in a post on X. The CEO said following the layoffs the company's leadership structure will also stretch no more than five layers below his own position. Flattening the leadership structure will increase efficiency, he argued. "Layers slow things down and create coordination tax," Armstrong added in the X post. For years, Armstrong has been all in on AI. After securing GitHub copilot and Cursor licenses for every engineer, he "went rogue," asking engineers to get onboarded with the tools by the end of the week, rather than the "quarters" some in the company had said it would take. Those who didn't meet the deadline had to face the consequences. "Some of them had a good reason, because they were just getting back from some trip or something," Armstrong said last year on the Cheeky Pint podcast with Stripe CEO Patrick Collison. "Some of them didn't, and they got fired." Over the past year, Armstrong said he has seen how AI has allowed engineers to ship in days what used to take a team weeks. Non-technical employees are also using AI to write code while many of the company's workflows are being automated, transformations that Armstrong said influenced Tuesday's layoff decision. Coinbase did not immediately respond to Fortune's request for comment. To be sure, as Coinbase flattens its org chart, it is also increasing its employee-to-manager ratio, with each leader responsible for 15 or more reports. This follows the recent "megamanger" trend sweeping corporate America, where managers now oversee an average of 12.1 employees, up from 10.9 in 2024, according to Gallup. Meta may be the starkest example, with its new applied engineering team sporting a 50-to-1 employee-to-manager ratio. Apart from Coinbase, other companies such as Block and Snap have laid off thousands citing the rapid advancement of AI. Yet, Sam Altman the CEO of OpenAI has also warned that some companies are "AI washing," or blaming unrelated layoffs on AI. Aleksander Tomic, the associate dean for strategy, innovation, and technology at Boston College, told Fortune some CEOs have used the pretext of AI restructures as a way to spin layoffs as a positive, rather than a negative, for their companies. At the same time, layoffs economywide remain low, leaving these AI-related layoffs largely as a tech sector phenomenon. "Instead of saying, 'Hey, we have some business issues that caused us to have layoffs,'which would be viewed negatively by the market, they say, 'Oh, we are laying off people to gain efficiency,' and then their stock price goes up," he said. Still, Armstrong said the layoffs and reorganization of Coinbase's leadership structure will help the company adapt for an era where "small, high context" teams execute quickly. The old, unhurried way of working is disappearing fast. "AI is bringing a profound shift in how companies operate, and we're reshaping Coinbase to lead in this new era," Armstrong said.

Coinbase Cuts 14% of Staff Amid Crypto 'Down Market,' AI Adoption: CEO - Decrypt

Affected U.S. employees will receive a minimum of 16 weeks' base pay plus two weeks per year of service, their next equity vest, and six months of COBRA coverage. Crypto exchange Coinbase is laying off approximately 14% of its workforce, CEO Brian Armstrong announced Tuesday, framing the cut as both a response to a crypto market downturn and a deeper pivot toward an AI-first operating model. "We are not just reducing headcount and cutting costs -- we're fundamentally changing how we operate: rebuilding Coinbase as an intelligence, with humans around the edge aligning it," Armstrong wrote in a company-wide email, which he subsequently tweeted on Wednesday morning. Armstrong pointed to crypto market volatility, noting that, "we're currently in a down market and need to adjust our cost structure now," adding that AI has changed working practices at the exchange. "Over the past year, I've watched engineers use AI to ship in days what used to take a team weeks," he wrote. "Non-technical teams are now shipping production code and many of our workflows are being automated." The layoff is a structural reset for one of crypto's most prominent publicly traded companies, arriving as AI-driven workforce reductions continue across the broader tech and crypto sectors. Goldman Sachs economists estimated last month that AI substitution is erasing roughly 25,000 US jobs per month, with augmentation effects adding back only around 9,000 -- a net loss of approximately 16,000 positions monthly. The restructuring will flatten Coinbase's org chart to five layers maximum below the CEO and COO, eliminate pure management roles, requiring all leaders to remain active individual contributors. The hiring will be concentrated around what Armstrong called "AI-native pods," including experimental single-person teams combining engineering, design, and product functions. "Leaders will own much more, with as many as 15+ direct reports," Armstrong wrote. The announcement arrives weeks after Coinbase revealed it was testing AI agents modeled on co-founder Fred Ehrsam and former CTO Balaji Srinivasan, deployed internally to provide employees with strategic and creative feedback. Armstrong had flagged at the time that the company would "likely have more agents than human employees at some point soon." AI-driven workforce layoffs have been taking place across the crypto industry, leaving thousands of workers displaced as companies redirect resources toward automation, AI infrastructure, and leaner operating models. Meta laid off roughly 8,000 employees last month, around 10% of its global workforce, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg directing capital toward AI infrastructure projected to cost up to $135 billion this year. Affected Coinbase employees will have their system access revoked immediately. U.S. staff will receive a minimum severance package of 16 weeks' base pay plus two additional weeks per year of service, their next equity vest, and six months of COBRA coverage, and Visa holders will receive additional transition support. "The Coinbase that emerges from this will be more capable than ever to achieve our mission," Armstrong wrote.

Coinbase to lay off 700 workers as cryptocurrency exchange embraces AI

Mary Cunningham is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch. She previously worked at "60 Minutes," CBSNews.com and CBS News 24/7 as part of the CBS News Associate Program. Coinbase announced on Tuesday that it is cutting 700 jobs, or roughly 14% of its workforce, as the cryptocurrency trading company turns to artificial intelligence to reduce costs and boost productivity. In a letter to employees shared on social media, Coinbase co-founder and CEO Brian Armstrong said the crypto exchange is streamlining its operations amid continued market volatility. "While we've managed through that cyclicality many times before and come out stronger on the other side, we're currently in a down market and need to adjust our cost structure now so that we emerge from this period leaner, faster and more efficient for our next phase of growth," he wrote. Armstrong also said Coinbase plans to shift some jobs to managing fleets of AI agents. Coinbase will experiment with "one-person teams" that combine the duties of engineers, designers and product managers, he said. "This is a new way of working, and we need to leverage AI across every facet of our jobs," Armstrong said. As of the end of 2025, Coinbase had nearly 5,000 employees, according to a regulatory filing. The company expects to complete the layoffs by the second quarter of 2026. Coinbase estimates it will incur $50 million to $60 million in restructuring costs. Coinbase is the latest in a wave of companies to announce AI-related job cuts. In February, Jack Dorsey said his financial technology company Block would cut its workforce by nearly half as it uses AI to increase productivity. Other companies that have cited AI in their layoff announcements include Chegg, CrowdStrike and Pinterest.

Coinbase cuts staff by 14%, citing crypto market downturn and AI adoption

Coinbase cuts staff by 14%, citing crypto market downturn and AI adoption Coinbase Global Inc. Chief Executive Brian Armstrong announced today that the company intends to cut its headcount by around 14%, or roughly 700 jobs, citing a combination of market forces and artificial intelligence changing how the company operates. Posting on X, formerly Twitter, the company's chief executive noted that although the company is "well-capitalized, has diversified revenue streams, and is well-positioned to weather any storm," but that crypto is currently in a "down market," causing the need to adjust Coinbase's corporate cost structure. In addition to market volatility, Armstrong mentioned that AI is changing the company's culture and work capabilities. "Non-technical teams are now shipping production code, and many of our workflows are being automated," Armstrong said. "The pace of what's possible with a small, focused team has changed dramatically, and it's accelerating every day." His first alignment, he said, would be to "flatten" the company's structure so that there are fewer managers and the company will focus on what he called AI-native talent who will handle fleets of AI agents. The company will also experiment with reduced team, or pod sizes, including one-person teams, "with engineers, designers, and product managers all in one role." Instead of pure managers, Armstrong said, those who remain will instead take on the role of "player-coaches," taking the field and getting their hands dirty alongside their teammates. A filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission described that the company's restructuring would incur about $50 million to $60 million in expenses in severance and termination benefits. Coinbase's move follows a spate of layoffs in the tech industry, sometimes rubbed up with AI language. Earlier this year, Block Inc. let go of almost 40% of its workforce, citing an AI-native reset. In March, Crypto.com cut around 12% of its staff amid AI-forward restructuring and in the same month Algorand let go of around 25% of its workforce, also citing market forces and AI as driving factors.

Coinbase layoffs today: Crypto giant cuts hundreds of jobs as CEO says AI is 'changing how we work'

The company's CEO says one of the main drivers of those layoffs is AI adoption at the company. Here's what you need to know. This morning, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong posted a letter on X that he sent to the company's nearly 4,700-strong workforce. In the letter, Armstrong announced that Coinbase was letting go of around 14% of its staff, or roughly 700 employees. The CEO said two factors were at play behind the layoffs. First, the company's business is highly volatile, and the crypto industry is in a downward market. As a result, Coinbase needs to adjust its cost structure. And one of the fastest ways to cut costs is always by cutting human labor.

Coinbase cuts 14pc jobs to save costs and embrace AI

Last year, Coinbase Europe was fined nearly €21.5m for failing to monitor transactions. Coinbase is making 14pc of its workforce redundant to cut cost and adopt AI. According to recent company filings, the layoffs will affect around 700 employees. The company employs around 150 in Ireland, however, it is unclear how many of them would be affected in this move. Coinbase did not provide SiliconRepublic.com with details when queried. Restructuring expenses are expected to cost upwards of $60m. Company shares are up nearly 4pc in pre-market trading at the time of publication. In a post on X, Coinbase co-founder and CEO Brian Armstrong said that the company is "volatile from quarter to quarter". "While we've managed through that cyclicality many times before and come out stronger on the other side, we're currently in a down market and need to adjust our cost structure now so that we emerge from this period leaner, faster, and more efficient for our next phase of growth." AI is "changing how we work", Armstrong said. The workforce adjustments are expected to make the company "lean, fast, and AI-native", he added. He is part of a growing list of company leaders choosing a slimmer, more AI-powered workforce. In recent months, Meta cut 8,000 jobs; Block cut 4,000 jobs; Oracle, about 10,000; Amazon, 30,000; Atlassian, 10pc of its workforce; and Snap, about 16pc - with much of it attributed to changing technology at the workplace. A joint report published by the Economic and Social Research Institute and the Department of Finance has found that AI adoption in Ireland is likely to lead to job losses, leading to increases in income inequality in the "short to medium term". "The biggest risk now is not taking action," Armstrong continued, calling this an "inflection point, not just for Coinbase, but for every company". With a smaller workforce, Coinbase plans to "[concentrate] around AI-native talent" who can manage fleets of AI agents. The company is also introducing "one-person teams" who can manage engineering, design and product management. Last November, the Central Bank of Ireland fined Coinbase Europe nearly €21.5m for breaching its obligations to monitor money laundering and terrorist financing. Don't miss out on the knowledge you need to succeed. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic's digest of need-to-know sci-tech news.

How AI Became Crypto's Favorite Reason to Cut Staff

Coinbase, Block and Crypto.com have all cited AI to justify recent cuts, though Scale AI's Jason Droege suspects companies are using the technology as cover. Coinbase became the latest crypto company to cut its workforce on Tuesday, as a wave of layoffs sweeps through an industry navigating a down market and the pressure to embrace AI. CEO Brian Armstrong said the company is using AI to flatten its organizational structure, with managers expected to act more like "player-coaches." "AI is bringing a profound shift in how companies operate, and we're reshaping Coinbase to lead in this new era. This is a new way of working, and we need to leverage AI across every facet of our jobs," Armstrong said in an email to employees, also shared on X on Tuesday. Armstrong's memo outlined three sweeping changes to how Coinbase will operate. Source: Brian Armstrong Block and Crypto.com have made similar moves in recent months, citing AI-driven efficiency gains that allow leaner teams to handle what once required larger headcounts. Coinbase and Crypto.com cut about 700 and 180 employees respectively. Jack Dorsey's Block handed out 4,000 pink slips in February to reduce the company to under 6,000 employees. Crypto has weathered several bear markets before, and layoffs have always followed. But this time, the companies doing the cutting are using the downturn to rebuild with AI at the center. Coinbase's Tuesday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission detailed that the exchange expects its restructuring plan to cost up to $60 million in expenses tied to severance and termination benefits. Clear Street analyst Owen Lau told CNBC that Coinbase wants to "tell investors that management is actively managing the cost base to deliver positive adjusted EBITDA through the cycle." "The first quarter results are expected to be weak because of the crypto bear market," added Lau. On Thursday, Coinbase reported a weaker-than-expected first-quarter loss as falling crypto prices dragged down spot trading revenue. The exchange posted a net loss of $1.49 per share on $1.41 billion in revenue, missing analyst expectations while transaction revenue fell short amid weaker trading activity. The underperformance isn't specific to Coinbase, as Bitcoin lost 21% of its value in Q1. Across the tech industry, headcounts that ballooned during the bull run are now coming back down, with executives increasingly pointing to AI as the catalyst. Bitcoin has been in the red for two consecutive quarters but showed signs of recovery in April. Source: Coinglass Related: Reality of AI's impact on employment clashes with C-suite optimism Whether AI is the real driver or a convenient explanation depends on who you ask. Speaking at the recent Semafor World Economy conference, Scale AI CEO Jason Droege pushed back on the idea of AI presenting a "white-collar apocalypse," arguing that many companies are using the technology as cover. "A lot of the layoffs that are happening right now because of AI, if you really dig in, it's sort of like washing the layoffs," Droege said. "A lot of these companies are saying it's because of AI, but a lot of it is just like rightsizing and they need an excuse." According to jobs tracker Layoffs.fyi, the global tech industry in 2026 Q1 had the most layoffs since 2023 Q1, with more than 81,747 people losing their jobs. March was hit the hardest, with 45,800 layoffs in the month. Tech layoffs surged in early 2026, marking the industry's highest quarterly job cuts since 2023. Source: Layoffs.fyi Related: How AI agents can reshape arbitrage in prediction markets The slowdown has continued into the first month of this quarter. According to a Thursday report from outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, US employers announced 83,387 job cuts in April, up 30% from the 60,620 cuts recorded in March. AI led all reasons for job cuts in April for the second consecutive month, though it is not the leading cause for the year so far. Market conditions led with 53,058 cuts, followed by closings at 52,187. "Technology companies continue to announce large-scale cuts and are leading all industries in layoff announcements. They are also often citing AI spend and innovation. Regardless of whether individual jobs are being replaced by AI, the money for those roles is," said Andy Challenger, chief revenue officer at Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Crypto has always been cyclical, but the framing around this wave of cuts looks different from the last major downturn. During the 2022-2023 crypto crash, companies were largely reacting to collapsing token prices, the fallout from FTX and balance sheets strained by aggressive bull-market hiring. This time, executives are increasingly presenting layoffs as proactive restructuring tied to AI adoption and operational efficiency. Both Dorsey and Armstrong signalled that their companies remain well-capitalized, framing the cuts as deliberate attempts to flatten corporate structures rather than emergency survival measures. Crypto recoveries have come fast, and when they do, businesses often enter hiring sprees to expand during the bull market. Coinbase has been here before. It cut 18% in 2022, then hired aggressively when prices rebounded. This time, Armstrong is betting the AI-native model means he won't have to. Kraken was making the same argument in October 2024, when it slashed 15% of its workforce. In a blog post, co-CEOs Arjun Sethi and Dave Ripley said the exchange had "fallen into the trap of building organizational layers" and needed to become "leaner and faster" by giving power back to individual contributors over managers. The language is similar to Armstrong's and Dorsey's memos. The difference is, Kraken didn't mention AI. Leaner teams, flatter structures, faster decisions. Crypto has been here before, but AI is the latest reason why.

Coinbase laying off hundreds of employees, citing AI advancements

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong announced Tuesday that the cryptocurrency exchange is laying off hundreds of employees, pointing to the market's current downswing and recent AI advancements. The company plans to reduce its workforce by about 14 percent, Armstrong said in an email to employees shared to the social platform X, which is equivalent to almost 700 jobs, based on the nearly 5,000 employees it reported at the end of last year. "Two forces are converging at the same time. We need to be front footed to respond to both," Armstrong wrote. He argued that Coinbase needs to "adjust our cost structure now so that we emerge from this period leaner, faster, and more efficient for our next phase of growth" amid the current dip in the crypto market. The total value of the crypto market fell from about $4.3 trillion last October to almost $2.8 trillion as of early Tuesday. The price of bitcoin currently sits at nearly $81,000, down substantially from a record-high of $126,000 in October. Armstrong in Tuesday's post also suggested that AI is "changing how we work," emphasizing how the technology has accelerated what workers can accomplish. "All of this has led us to an inflection point, not just for Coinbase, but for every company," he added. "The biggest risk now is not taking action. We are adjusting early and deliberately to rebuild Coinbase to be lean, fast, and AI-native. We need to return to the speed and focus of our startup founding, with AI at our core." He said the company will be "concentrating around AI-native talent who can manage fleets of agents" and experimenting with smaller teams, including one-person teams. Several major tech companies have also announced layoffs this year. Amazon announced in January that it was cutting 16,000 jobs, while Meta said in April that it was laying off about 8,000 employees, CNBC noted.

Coinbase Cuts 14% of Staff in AI Restructuring

Brian Armstrong said Coinbase will flatten management layers and require leaders to work as "player-coaches" under the new structure. Coinbase will cut about 14% of its workforce, or roughly 700 jobs, as CEO Brian Armstrong moves to make the crypto exchange leaner and more focused on artificial intelligence. Armstrong said in an email to employees that Coinbase is responding to two forces at once: a down market that pressured the company's quarter-to-quarter business and rapid advances in AI that are changing how teams work. He said the company will flatten its organizational structure to a maximum of five layers below the CEO and chief operating officer, require leaders to act as "player-coaches" rather than pure managers and concentrate around smaller AI-native teams that can use automated tools to increase output. "To those affected, we will be providing a comprehensive package to support you through this transition," Armstrong said, saying that it will include at least 16 weeks of base pay for US employees, additional pay based on tenure, their next equity vest and six months of "COBRA" or the "Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act," a US program that allows former employees to temporarily continue employer-sponsored health insurance coverage. The cuts show Coinbase framing AI not only as a productivity tool, but as a reason to rethink staffing, management and team structure across one of the largest US crypto companies. Coinbase's restructuring follows other workforce reductions across crypto companies in recent months, as firms respond to weaker market conditions, cost pressures and the growing use of AI in internal operations. In February, Gemini said that it planned to cut up to 200 jobs, or about 25% of its workforce, while exiting the UK, EU and Australia as part of a broader cost-reduction plan, according to Reuters. The cuts were expected to affect employees in the United States, Singapore and Europe and be completed in the first half of 2026. Related: Most crypto investors believe Bitcoin is undervalued: Coinbase survey In March, Crypto.com cut 12% of its workforce as it accelerated its AI push. The move affected about 180 employees based on the exchange's listed headcount of around 1,500. The company said the layoffs were part of its plans to prioritize resources around key growth areas. In the same month, the Algorand Foundation also cut 25% of its staff, citing macroeconomic uncertainty, weaker crypto prices and the rise of AI.

Coinbase layoffs: What is the severance package US' largest crypto exchange will give to Indian employees on work visas?

Coinbase is laying off 14% of its global workforce, impacting around 700 employees. The crypto giant cited market conditions and the growing influence of AI as reasons for the restructure. Affected employees will receive severance packages, with specific provisions for those on work visas and international staff, aiming for a leaner, AI-native operation. America's largest crypto exchange, Coinbase, has announced its plans to cut around 700 jobs, about 14 percent of its global workforce. The company, in a corporate filing, added that the restructure will cost between $50 to $60 million and this includes severance pay, termination benefits and other related expenses. ALSO READ: Rainbow cloud spotted in Indonesia stuns internet Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, in an email shared that the terminated employees will receive a comprehensive package to support of 16 weeks base pay (plus 2 weeks per year worked), their next equity vest, and 6 months of COBRA (Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act). COBRA in the US, allows former employees to continue their employer's health insurance. ALSO READ: Trisha Krishnan Net Worth The severance package remains the same for employees working outside the US but there are certain conditions applied. "To those affected, we will be providing a comprehensive package to support you through this transition. US employees will receive a minimum of 16 weeks base pay (plus 2 weeks per year worked), their next equity vest, and 6 months of COBRA," Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said. He added that those working on work visas will also get "extra transition support". As for employees working outside the US, they will receive a similar severance package. However, it will be "based on local factors and subject to any consultation requirements." The latest rounds of layoffs at Coinbase is aimed at reducing costs and aligning operations with the growing role of artificial intelligence in the company. In an email sent to employees, the Coinbase CEO pointed out some changes that are going on within the company. "Over the past year, I've watched engineers use AI to ship in days what used to take a team weeks. Non-technical teams are now shipping production code and many of our workflows are being automated." "First, the market. Coinbase is well-capitalized, has diversified revenue streams, and is well-positioned to weather any storm. Crypto is also on the verge of the next wave of adoption, with stablecoins, prediction markets, tokenization, and more taking off. However, our business is still volatile from quarter to quarter. While we've managed through that cyclicality many times before and come out stronger on the other side, we're currently in a down market and need to adjust our cost structure now so that we emerge from this period leaner, faster, and more efficient for our next phase of growth." "Second, AI is changing how we work. Over the past year, I've watched engineers use AI to ship in days what used to take a team weeks. Non-technical teams are now shipping production code and many of our workflows are being automated. The pace of what's possible with a small, focused team has changed dramatically, and it's accelerating every day." "We are adjusting early and deliberately to rebuild Coinbase to be lean, fast, and AI-native. We need to return to the speed and focus of our startup founding, with AI at our core."

Coinbase Guts Middle Management, Goes AI-First - Coinbase Global (NASDAQ:COIN)

Coinbase Is Gutting Middle Management -- And Rebuilding Around AI The company isn't just getting smaller. It's getting flatter -- and more AI-native. No More 'Pure Managers' The clearest shift is in how Coinbase defines leadership. "No pure managers: Every leader at Coinbase must also be a strong and active individual contributor," said his letter to employees. That's not a tweak. It's a redesign. Managers aren't being optimized -- they're being redefined. Oversight alone doesn't qualify anymore. Leaders are expected to build, ship, and operate alongside their teams, turning traditional management roles into what Armstrong calls "player-coaches." At the same time, spans of control are expanding. Leaders may now oversee 15 or more direct reports, while the company caps its structure at just five layers below the CEO and COO. Fewer layers. Fewer managers. More output per person. In essence, no middle management in the 'traditional' sense of things. An Org Built For AI, Not Headcount The driver behind this shift is AI. Armstrong points to a reality that's already reshaping teams: engineers shipping in days what once took weeks, non-technical staff writing production code, and workflows increasingly automated. The implication is straightforward. If AI increases individual output, you don't need as many layers coordinating that output. Coinbase is leaning into that logic -- hard. The company is reorganizing around "AI-native pods," experimenting with smaller teams, and even floating the idea of "one-person teams" where a single individual handles engineering, product, and design. From Hierarchy To Throughput This is less about cutting costs and more about removing friction. Armstrong calls out "coordination tax" as a drag on speed -- something flatter teams are designed to eliminate. The goal isn't just efficiency. It's velocity. That's a different kind of organization. One where hierarchy matters less than output. Where management becomes execution. And where AI replaces coordination as the scaling mechanism. Coinbase isn't just trimming middle management. It's betting that in an AI-driven company, you don't need it the way you used to. Image via Shutterstock Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs To add Benzinga News as your preferred source on Google, click here.

Coinbase layoffs: Why Coinbase is cutting 14% jobs as CEO Brian Armstrong pushes AI shift - here's what he said about severance pay, healthcare, and support

Coinbase layoffs 2026: For employees at Coinbase, the day began with a message that many companies have delivered in recent years, but that never feels good to receive. CEO Brian Armstrong informed staff that roughly 14% of the workforce would be let go, calling it a "difficult decision" shaped by both market pressure and rapid changes in how work is done. In his note, Armstrong said that the employees affected would receive communication to their personal accounts, along with details on severance, equity vesting, and healthcare coverage in the US, plus additional support for visa holders and comparable arrangements internationally, as per a post shared by him on X. He said, "Coinbase system access has been removed today. I know this feels sudden and harsh, but it is the only responsible choice given our duty to protect customer information." The layoffs come as Coinbase navigates a downturn in the crypto market. While Armstrong said the industry may be approaching another wave of adoption, driven by areas like stablecoins, tokenization, and prediction markets, he noted that the company's business remains volatile from quarter to quarter. With conditions currently softer, Coinbase is adjusting its cost structure in an effort to come out of this period leaner and more efficient. Another shift is unfolding inside the company. Armstrong pointed to artificial intelligence as a major factor behind the decision, describing how teams can now complete work in days that once took weeks, and how even non-technical employees are building and automating workflows. This change, he said, is accelerating quickly and allowing smaller, more focused teams to do more. Armstrong said, "We are adjusting early and deliberately to rebuild Coinbase to be lean, fast, and AI-native. We need to return to the speed and focus of our startup founding, with AI at our core." As a result, the layoffs are part of a broader restructuring. Coinbase plans to flatten its organization, reduce layers, and place more responsibility on leaders while expecting them to remain hands-on contributors. The company is also moving toward smaller, AI-driven teams, in some cases experimenting with "one person teams" that combine multiple roles. The CEO explained that, "We are flattening our org structure to 5 layers max below CEO/COO. Layers slow things down and create coordination tax. The future is small, high context teams that can move quickly," adding that, "Leaders will own much more, with as many as 15+ direct reports. Fewer layers also means a leaner cost structure that is built to perform through all market cycles." The announcement comes just ahead of Coinbase's first-quarter earnings report, with shares rising nearly 2% on Tuesday. It also reflects a wider trend across the tech industry, where companies are cutting roles as they invest more heavily in AI. Why is Coinbase laying off employees? The company cited a mix of crypto market downturn and AI changing how work is done. Is AI replacing jobs at Coinbase? AI is changing how work is done, allowing smaller teams to handle more tasks.

Coinbase Cuts 14% of Staff Amid Greater Focus on AI | PYMNTS.com

By completing this form, you agree to receive marketing communications from PYMNTS and to the sharing of your information with our sponsor, if applicable, in accordance with our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions. Artificial intelligence is just one piece of the reasoning behind the layoffs, America's largest cryptocurrency exchange said Tuesday (May 5). Another factor is the volatility of the crypto market, CEO Brian Armstrong wrote on the Coinbase blog. "Crypto is also on the verge of the next wave of adoption, with stablecoins, prediction markets, tokenization, and more taking off," the post said. "However, our business is still volatile from quarter to quarter. While we've managed through that cyclicality many times before and come out stronger on the other side, we're currently in a down market and need to adjust our cost structure now so that we emerge from this period leaner, faster, and more efficient for our next phase of growth." Armstrong said artificial intelligence is transforming the way the company works, shortening timelines, automating workloads and letting smaller teams do the work of larger ones. "All of this has led us to an inflection point, not just for Coinbase, but for every company. The biggest risk now is not taking action," the CEO wrote. "We are adjusting early and deliberately to rebuild Coinbase to be lean, fast, and AI-native. We need to return to the speed and focus of our startup founding, with AI at our core." Beyond cutting costs, Armstrong said the company is "rebuilding Coinbase as an intelligence," with plans to flatten its structure to include no more than five layers below the CEO/COO. Armstrong said Coinbase will also begin "concentrating around AI-native talent," while experimenting with reduced pod sizes, including "one person teams" where a single person serves as engineer, designer and product manager. Coinbase isn't the only company in the FinTech space that sees AI reducing headcount. Following sweeping layoffs at his company earlier this year, Block founder and CEO Jack Dorsey argued in a blog post with Sequoia Capital Partner Roelof Botha that AI could replace the "traditional hierarchy" of management. "At Block, we're questioning the underlying assumption: that organizations have to be hierarchically organized with humans as the coordination mechanism. Instead, we intend to replace what the hierarchy does," Dorsey and Botha wrote. In the wake of those cuts, PYMNTS argued that Block's thinking is in line with a larger transition happening at technology and financial services firms. "As AI systems increasingly draft code, automate internal documentation, analyze risk signals and handle portions of customer support, the amount of human labor required for certain workflows changes," that report said. "Organizations are reassessing team size relative to output."

Coinbase boss fires 700 workers in 6:55 a.m. email saying company must become 'lean, fast, and AI-native'

Coinbase chief executive Brian Armstrong informed employees in an early morning message Tuesday that the cryptocurrency exchange would eliminate roughly 14% of its workforce -- about 700 jobs -- as the company restructures around artificial intelligence. Armstrong shared the memo publicly on social media shortly before 7 a.m., telling staff the cuts were necessary as AI rapidly reshapes how work is done across the tech industry. The billionaire co-founder said impacted employees would receive additional details within the hour, though some workers later said their access to company systems had already been limited by the time the email landed. "I know this feels sudden and harsh," Armstrong wrote, while describing the layoffs as a difficult but necessary move tied to the company's responsibility to safeguard customer data. He maintained that Coinbase remained financially strong and positioned for future growth, but said market pressures required the company to "rebuild Coinbase to be lean, fast, and AI-native." According to the CEO, engineers using AI tools are now able to complete projects in days that previously took teams weeks to finish. He added that nontechnical employees have started writing production-level code while automation increasingly handles routine workflows. Coinbase employed 4,951 workers at the end of 2025, meaning the cuts are expected to affect roughly 700 employees. Armstrong said affected US-based workers would receive at least 16 weeks of base pay, along with an additional two weeks for every year worked, continued healthcare coverage and their next equity vest. The CEO also outlined a sweeping cultural overhaul inside Coinbase, saying the company would flatten its organizational structure to no more than five layers below the CEO and COO. Armstrong said Coinbase plans to build smaller, highly focused "AI-native" teams capable of moving faster and operating with fewer employees. He added that the company is experimenting with "one person teams," where engineers, designers and product managers could eventually be consolidated into a single role. Coinbase joins a growing list of major technology firms that have linked workforce reductions to the rise of artificial intelligence. Oracle reportedly slashed thousands of jobs earlier this year as the cloud computing giant intensified its focus on AI. Amazon has also shed large numbers of corporate workers through several rounds of layoffs stretching from late 2025 into 2026. Executives there said the goal was to reduce bureaucracy and streamline operations. Meta recently launched another significant wave of cuts affecting roughly 8,000 employees, or about 10% of its workforce, as the company redirected spending away from the metaverse and toward AI investments. Other tech firms including Block and Atlassian have also announced sizable layoffs while citing the need to prioritize artificial intelligence initiatives. Armstrong said the changes at Coinbase would go beyond staffing reductions. He wrote that he wants to fundamentally reshape how the company operates by flattening management layers, eliminating what he referred to as "pure managers," and encouraging executives to function more like hands-on "player-coaches." Coinbase was founded in 2012 during the early days of cryptocurrency trading, when Bitcoin was valued at roughly $6. The company later went public during the pandemic-era crypto frenzy, a period when Bitcoin prices surged dramatically and enthusiasm for digital assets exploded. Like much of the crypto industry, Coinbase has experienced sharp swings in fortune tied to volatility in digital currency markets. Its valuation plunged after the post-pandemic crypto collapse, wiping out much of the company's market value before rebounding as Bitcoin climbed to record highs last year. More recently, trading activity has cooled while investor and industry attention has increasingly shifted toward artificial intelligence.

Coinbase slashes headcount to accelerate AI pivot

Coinbase has announced that it is laying off about 14% of its workforce as part of a restructuring plan designed to bolster efficiency and support its transition towards artificial intelligence. CEO Brian Armstrong justified the decision by citing persistent volatility in the cryptocurrency market and the rapid transformations driven by AI, which he believes will enable leaner operations. The announcement was welcomed by the markets, with the stock rising about 3% in pre-market trading. The group, which employed 4,950 people at the end of December 2025, aims to reposition itself as a more agile entity, capable of leveraging new technologies while maintaining cost discipline in a cyclical environment. This decision comes on the eve of the company's quarterly earnings release and aligns with a broader trend across the tech sector, where several firms have recently implemented job cuts to adapt to AI-driven shifts. Despite the restructuring, Coinbase is maintaining its development strategy within the digital asset space. Brian Armstrong reiterated his confidence in the sector's outlook, highlighting segments such as stablecoins, tokenization, and prediction markets. The crypto industry is evolving towards a more structured model that is focused on more stable revenue streams and increased institutional adoption within a strengthening regulatory framework.