US coinbase, about 20% staff reduction | coindesk JAPAN | Coindesk Japan

US cryptocurrency trading giant Coinbase has announced that it will cut about 950 employees as part of a restructuring that is expected to be completed by the end of the second quarter of 2023.

That figure represents about 20% of the roughly 4,700 employees, according to the company’s website.

Coinbase said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Jan. 10 that it is responding to “continuing market conditions impacting the crypto economy.”

The company estimates the costs of the restructuring to be $149 million, including cash costs of $58 million to $68 million related to employee retirements. yen) to 163 million dollars (about 21.575 billion yen).

Coinbase began layoffs in June 2022 when the crypto bear market began. CEO Brian Armstrong said at the time that the company had “grown too fast” in a bull market, noting that it had expanded from 1,250 to more than 5,000 employees in early 2021. .

The company started by laying off 1,100 employees, or 18% of its workforce, and cut another 60 in November as the “crypto winter” intensified with the collapse of rival FTX. bottom.

Armstrong told CNBC that the decision was made after conducting various stress tests on Coinbase’s annual revenue. “It became clear that we needed to cut costs to be more likely to succeed in all scenarios,” he said.

Coinbase also plans to suspend several projects with a “low probability of success.”

CoinDesk estimates that around 27,000 jobs have been lost across the cryptocurrency industry since April 2022, based on media reports and press releases.

Shares of Coinbase jumped more than 4% in pre-market trading following the news. As of this writing, the stock is down about 1% to $38.

｜Translation: coindesk JAPAN
｜Editing: Toshihiko Inoue
｜Image: Shutterstock
｜ Original: Coinbase Cuts Around 20% Workforce as Crypto Winter Rages