By Nicholas Earl
Coinbase Global (Coinbase) revealed on Tuesday it will reduce its workforce by about 20 per cent, or 950 employees, as part of a restructuring plan, in a third round of layoffs for the cryptocurrency exchange since last year.
The company said it expects to incur about $149m to $163m in restructuring expenses. Its shares reversed course to fall 2.7 per cent premarket after rising more than five per cent on the layoffs announcement earlier.
“The entire industry is going through a crisis of confidence and trading volume remains very weak, this job cut is a reflection of the current challenging environment,” said Owen Lau, analyst at Oppenheimer.
Last year, rising interest rates and worries of an economic downturn wiped out more than a trillion dollars from the crypto sector.
The slump also forced key industry players such as Three Arrows Capital and Celsius Network to shut shop.
However, the bigger blow came after crypto exchange FTX filed for bankruptcy protection in November.
“We also saw the fallout from unscrupulous actors in the industry, and there could still be further contagion,” Coinbase chief executive Brian Armstrong said in a blog post on Tuesday.
Coinbase said it had no additional comment on the plan.
“This (job cuts) is a move that can help with near-term operating leverage,” said Mizuho analyst Ryan Coyne, adding that it would not fix the underlying issue of rapidly deteriorating volumes.
“It is going to require much more significant cost cutting to accommodate the current volume run rate.”
The crypto sector’s woes have continued this year, marked by plunging deposits, layoffs and multiple legal hurdles.
Coinbase in November cut more than 60 jobs in its recruiting and institutional onboarding teams, after slashing 1,100 jobs, or 18 per cent of its workforce, in June.
The company’s shares lost about 86 per cent of their value last year.
Reuters.
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