Coinbase is cutting approximately 14% of its workforce, CEO Brian Armstrong announced Tuesday. The layoffs are attributed to the ongoing crypto market downturn and a strategic shift 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.
The restructuring will flatten Coinbase's organizational chart to a maximum of five layers below the CEO and COO, eliminate pure management roles, and require all leaders to remain active individual contributors. The company will focus hiring on "AI-native pods," including experimental single-person teams.
This move is part of a broader trend of AI-driven layoffs across the tech and crypto sectors. Goldman Sachs estimates AI substitution is erasing roughly 25,000 US jobs per month, with a net loss of around 16,000 positions monthly.
Affected US employees will receive a minimum severance of 16 weeks' base pay plus two weeks per year of service, their next equity vest, and six months of COBRA coverage.