Bengaluru – Coinbase said it would cut about 14 per cent of its global workforce, as it trims costs amid crypto market volatility and repositions the business for the artificial intelligence era.
The company plans to concentrate remaining staff around AI skills while reducing layers of management, Coinbase chief executive officer Brian Armstrong said in an X post on May 6. In this new structure, some teams may consist of just one person, he said, with the responsibilities of engineers, designers and product managers combined into a single role.
Around 700 employees will be affected by the changes, with cuts expected to happen mostly in the second quarter.
Coinbase wasn’t the only company to reduce staff on May 5. PayPal Holdings plans to cut around 20 per cent of its workforce in the next two to three years, according to a person familiar with the matter, as new CEO Enrique Lores seeks to reduce costs and turn around the payments company.
PayPal employed around 23,800 people at the end of 2025, meaning a reduction of that size could eliminate more than 4,500 jobs.
Such moves are the latest in a string of workforce reductions across the crypto and payments sectors, as businesses rush to lower costs while market demand is dampened. Companies including Singapore-based Crypto.com, Block and Gemini Space Station slashed global staff numbers earlier in 2026, citing the pace at which AI is revamping operations across their respective businesses.
“The crypto winter is probably the real reason for most of the cuts,” said Dan Dolev, an analyst at Mizuho Securities. AI, for the most part, is likely an “easy excuse,” he added.
Revenue at Coinbase tumbled 20 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2025, as falling token prices drained trading activity. After registering an unrealised loss to mark down the value of its crypto holdings and investments, Coinbase posted a net loss of US$667 million (S$850 million) for that period, its most recent disclosure.
Bitcoin’s value has fallen more than a third since reaching its October peak of over US$126,000, buffeted by soured appetite for cryptocurrencies and the ongoing conflict in Iran. The crypto sector has weathered a number of volatile bear markets since the asset class first started gaining attention more than a decade ago, putting businesses under repeated operational pressure during extended downturns.
“While we’ve managed through that cyclicality many times before and come out stronger on the other side, we’re currently in a down market and need to adjust our cost structure now so that we emerge from this period leaner, faster, and more efficient for our next phase of growth,” Mr Armstrong said on May 5.
Mr Armstrong had previously praised the crypto market’s volatility as a boon for Coinbase. The exchange ended 2025 with nearly 5,000 full-time staff, notching a quarterly headcount rise of 3 per cent in areas like product development and customer support. BLOOMBERG
