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Coinbase Co-founder and CEO Brian Armstrong said Tuesday that the company will reduce its workforce by about 14% as it repositions itself for a new era defined by artificial intelligence and market volatility.
In a social media post on X, Armstrong shared an email sent to the company's employees, describing the move as a deliberate step to make Coinbase "leaner, faster, and more efficient" ahead of the next phase of crypto adoption. "We are adjusting early and deliberately to rebuild Coinbase to be lean, fast, and AI-native," Armstrong wrote, pointing to two converging forces behind the decision. The first is market cyclicality. While Coinbase remains "well-capitalized, has diversified revenue streams, and is well-positioned to weather any storm," the company's business remains volatile quarter to quarter. With crypto currently in a down market, Armstrong said the firm must adjust its cost structure now to emerge stronger. The second force is AI, which he said is reshaping how work gets done. "Over the past year, I've watched engineers use AI to ship in days what used to take a team weeks," he noted, adding that even non-technical teams are now shipping production code as workflows become automated. The result, he said, is an inflection point where "the biggest risk now is not taking action." The restructuring goes beyond headcount reduction. Armstrong outlined a plan to flatten Coinbase's org structure to five layers below CEO and COO, eliminate pure management roles, and build AI-native pods where leaders act as "player-coaches" with up to 15 direct reports. He also flagged experimentation with "one person teams" combining engineering, design and product management, supported by fleets of AI agents. Coinbase is one of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, offering a platform for buying, selling and storing digital assets such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. It also provides services for stablecoins, tokenization and institutional crypto trading, and went public in 2021 as the most trusted platform in the sector. Affected employees will receive a minimum of 16 weeks base pay plus two weeks per year worked, their next equity vest, and six months of COBRA in the US, with similar support for international staff. System access was removed immediately for security reasons, with personal emails sent with further details. Armstrong acknowledged the emotional toll, saying, "I know there are real people behind these decisions -- talented colleagues who have poured themselves into this company and our mission." He stressed that the company's long-term outlook and mission remain unchanged: "Increasing economic freedom requires a new financial system, and we're building it." For the team staying, he said the goal is to return to the "speed and focus of our startup founding," with AI at the core of how Coinbase operates going forward. (ANI)
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