- Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) will extend a hiring freeze for new and existing staff.
- Coinbase is taking steps to reduce costs
- The crypto has been on a hiring spree as its usage has increased.
Coinbase, a cryptocurrency exchange backed by investors such as Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Capital and Andreessen Horowitz, has ceased its hiring of new employees until further notice.
According to Coinbase Global Inc., it will extend a hiring freeze for new and existing staff for the “foreseeable future” and invalidate a number of accepted offers. The hiring pause will enable Coinbase to focus on retaining existing employees and improving its efficiency.
In an email to staff reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, Coinbase Chief Executive Brian Armstrong said the company is “going to have to make some tough decisions” in the next few months as the economic downturn continues.
Armstrong said that while the company has been “lucky” so far, it can’t assume that will continue.
The truth is no one knows how long this will last, or how bad it could get.
Coinbase is taking steps to reduce costs. Accepted recruiting offers will be withdrawn, and the two-week hiring pause will be extended “as long as this macro-environment requires.”
“As these talks have progressed, it’s become clear that we need to take more stringent steps to slow our hiring growth,” the firm stated. “Cryptocurrency has always been volatile, but its volatility alongside bigger economic circumstances may put the company and us personally to the test in new ways.”
Coinbase, one of the largest bitcoin exchanges in the United States, has been on a hiring spree as cryptocurrency usage has increased. LinkedIn shows that Coinbase had more than 550 workers at the end of 2017 and 1,200 by the end of last year. It’s unclear how many people work there now.