American crypto exchange Coinbase will cut roughly 700 workers — about 14% of its global headcount — in a restructuring move the company says is driven by a slowing crypto market and a rapid shift toward AI-powered operations.
The cuts are expected to be largely completed by the end of the second quarter of 2026.
Workers based in the US will receive a minimum of 16 weeks of base pay, plus two additional weeks for every year of service.
They will also keep their next equity vest and receive six months of COBRA health coverage. Employees on work visas will get extra transition support.
Image: The Information
A Market Downturn Meets A Technology Shift
CEO Brian Armstrong broke the news in a post on X, framing the layoffs around two forces colliding at the same time.
One is a pullback in crypto trading that has squeezed the company’s revenue.
This is an email I sent earlier today to all employees at Coinbase:
Team,
Today I’ve made the difficult decision to reduce the size of Coinbase by ~14%. I want to walk you through why we’re doing this now, what it means for those affected, and how this positions us for the…
— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) May 5, 2026
The other is AI, which Armstrong says has made small engineering teams dramatically faster — enough to prompt a full rethink of how Coinbase is staffed.
“Our business is still volatile from quarter to quarter,” Armstrong wrote, adding that the company needs to adjust its cost structure now to come out of the downturn in better shape.
Coinbase plans to experiment with one-person teams where a single employee handles engineering, design, and product work under one role.
Layers of management are also being cut, according to reports. The company says it wants to concentrate its remaining staff around AI skills.
The restructuring will cost between $50 million and $60 million, mostly in severance and other termination benefits. Most of those charges will hit the books in the second quarter of 2026.
Markets React Positively Despite The Job Cuts
Investors appeared to welcome the announcement. Coinbase shares climbed more than 4% in pre-market trading after the news broke Tuesday morning.
The move comes after a surprise quarterly loss earlier this year, tied to a slowdown in crypto trading volumes.
Despite that, Armstrong struck an optimistic tone, saying crypto is on the edge of its next wave of adoption — but that the company has to get its costs in line first.
The affected workforce figure — approximately 700 employees as of May 1, 2026 — was disclosed in a formal filing with regulators.
Coinbase operates as the largest crypto exchange in the US.
Featured image from Getty Images, chart from TradingView
