Coinbase slashes headcount, sees "fleets of agents" instead

Coinbase is laying off over 690 members of staff – due in large part to how AI is transforming software engineering, CEO Brian Armstrong said today.

The popular cryptocurrency exchange is “currently in a down market and [we] need to adjust our cost structure,” Coinbase’s Armstrong said.

He added: “AI is changing how we work. Over the past year, I’ve watched engineers use AI to ship in days what used to take a team weeks. 

“Non-technical teams are now shipping production code and many of our workflows are being automated. The pace of what's possible with a small, focused team has changed dramatically, and it's accelerating every day.”

Coinbase’s global trading volume and market share doubled year-on-year in its financial year ended in February. It stores some 12% of all crypto in the world, significantly more than any of its rivals, and employs ~4,700 staff.

Coinbase works with thousands of firms, five global systemically important banks and 150 government agencies, executives said on its last call. Its 2025 total revenue was $7.2 billion, up 9% year-on-year, earnings showed.

Coinbase layoffs: Fleets of agents, please

But the market is volatile, Armstrong told staff today, sharing his message on social media. He said the company is going to be “concentrating around AI-native talent who can manage fleets of agents to drive outsized impact.” 

That will be part of a broader restructuring, the exchange’s co-founder and chief executive added, describing it as an effort to rebuild Coinbase “as an intelligence, with humans around the edge aligning it” – the company will flatten its organisation structure, and make managers function like “player-coaches, getting their hands dirty alongside their teams.”

Coinbase did not name the precise number of staff being laid off, but described it as 14% of the firm. It ended its last quarter with 4,951 staff.

It closed its last quarter on a GAAP basis with a net loss of $667 million “primarily driven by a $718 million unrealized loss on our crypto investment portfolio and a $395 million loss on strategic investments,” earnings showed.