Coinbase to lay off 14% employees, CEO says future will be built around AI

Coinbase will lay off 14 per cent of its workforce as it restructures to cut costs and adapt to market volatility. CEO Brian Armstrong says the company is shifting towards an AI-first model with leaner, faster teams.

In Short

• Coinbase to cut 14% workforce, impacting around 700 employees
• The company is shifting to AI-native teams, fewer managers, and a flatter structure
• According to CEO Brian Armstrong layoffs are aimed to boost efficiency

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase is set to lay off around 14 per cent of its global workforce as part of a major restructuring effort. According to the official announcement, the job cuts are aimed at reducing costs and preparing the company for an AI-driven future. The move, which could impact roughly 700 employees, comes just ahead of Coinbase’s upcoming earnings announcement which are scheduled for Thursday.

In a latest post on X, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong shared an internal email sent to employees, explaining the rationale behind the decision. “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 future,” he said in the email.

Armstrong pointed to two key forces driving the move: ongoing market volatility and the rapid rise of artificial intelligence. Both of which according to him are reshaping how the company operates.

On the market side, Armstrong acknowledged that while Coinbase remains well capitalised and continues to diversify its revenue streams, the crypto sector remains highly cyclical. “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.” The goal, he said, is to emerge from this phase stronger as the market recovers.

However, a significant factor behind the layoffs is the growing impact of AI on productivity and workflows. Armstrong noted that over the past year, employees have been able to accomplish far more using AI tools. Tasks that previously took weeks can now be completed in days, often by fewer people. This shift, he said, has fundamentally changed what teams can achieve and how companies should be structured.

As a result, Coinbase is moving towards what Armstrong describes as an “AI-native” operating model. The company plans to flatten its organisational structure, reduce management layers, and build smaller, high-impact teams. It is also experimenting with new formats such as “one-person teams”, where individuals take on multiple roles across engineering, product, and design with the help of AI tools.

Armstrong described this moment as an “inflection point” not just for Coinbase but for the broader tech industry.

The company expects to incur restructuring costs of around $50 million to $60 million, primarily related to severance and employee benefits, with most of the impact expected in the current quarter.

The layoffs at Coinbase follow the broader trend across the tech industry, where companies are increasingly leveraging AI to drive efficiency and reduce reliance on large workforces. Companies including Meta, Amazon, Dell, and Oracle have all announced significant job cuts in recent months, with many citing AI adoption and operational streamlining as key reasons.

Meta alone is planning to cut around 10 per cent of its workforce to fund growing AI infrastructure investments, while companies like Snap, Atlassian, and Crypto.com have also reduced headcount as AI improves productivity and reduces the need for larger teams.

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