"Impersonal And Shocking": Coinbase Cuts 1,100 Jobs After Hiring Spree

ndtv.com:

Coinbase has cut 18 per cent of its workforce, or roughly 1,100 jobs

Andrew Grass helped hire about 200 people at Coinbase Global Inc. earlier this year. Now most of those hires — and MrGrass himself — are gone.

In a process that several former employees described as impersonal and shocking, the largest US digital-asset trading platform on Tuesday cut about 18% of its workforce, or roughly 1,100 jobs, citing the plunge in cryptocurrencies and worsening economic conditions.

Chief Executive Officer Brian Armstrong revealed the news to affected employees through an email, but some said they didn't receive it and found out about the layoffs via social media instead. Others said their first hint that something was wrong came when they were unable to log onto their work laptops. 

Mr Grass was caught off guard by the announcement since he had recently returned from an off-site meeting with some of the company's associate managers in Austin, Texas. When he woke up Tuesday, a colleague sent a group text urging everyone to check their email for information about the layoffs. He tried to get into his computer, but couldn't log on. It was a startling end to his stint at the company, particularly after he had spent recent weeks looking to boost hiring.

“In a four-week span of time, I spent 80 of those hours doing interviews and follow-up interviews,” said Mr Grass, 43, who was an associate manager of Coinbase's customer experience team. “This was a lot of time and effort and now all these people are gone.”

The layoffs are part of a rapid shift in the crypto industry, with companies flipping from expansion to contraction in a matter of days as Bitcoin continues its dramatic slump toward $20,000. Until very recently, Coinbase was on a hiring