Crypto crisis: Coinbase lays off almost a fifth of its employees
The US-listed company "grew too fast" during last year's bull market, says Chief Executive Officer Brian Armstrong

Coinbase is laying off nearly a fifth of its workforce after a sharp drop in prices and cryptocurrency trading volume rattled some of the industry's biggest players.
The Nasdaq-listed exchange said Monday it would lay off 1,100 employees as it struggles with a slowdown in trading that has forced it to abandon growth plans.
Bitcoin has lost more than 60 percent of its value since November, when it hit an all-time high of nearly $69,000. Bitcoin dipped below $21,000 on Tuesday. Other coins, including ether, are hit by even bigger drops.
Coinbase's move follows cuts at competing exchanges like Gemini and Crypto.com, as well as crypto lending platform BlockFi, all of which have announced plans to lay off large swathes of their workforce in recent weeks.
This also follows the turmoil at Celsius Network, one of the world's largest crypto lending services, which blocked all customer withdrawals this week.
Coinbase, a platform that allows retail customers to bet on a range of digital assets, generated about four-fifths of its revenue from retail banking in the first quarter. However, volumes have cooled off sharply as crypto prices have fallen. Coinbase shares are down 79 percent so far this year as investors take a negative view of the company's prospects.
Chief Executive Brian Armstrong said the cuts are an attempt "to stay healthy during this economic downturn" after an aggressive hiring race increased the workforce to 6,000 from 3,730 at the end of last year.
"I'm the CEO and the responsibility is mine," he said, adding that Coinbase had "grown too fast."
The job cuts at Coinbase underscore the abrupt change in fortunes in the crypto market. Just a few months ago, crypto companies like Coinbase and FTX went marketing and bought commercials at the Super Bowl, while Crypto.com bought the naming rights to the sports arena where the Los Angeles Lakers play basketball.
The setback in the crypto market mirrors the sell-off in traditional asset markets triggered by rising inflation and drastic monetary tightening by global central banks.
The Federal Reserve's monetary policy committee concludes a two-day meeting on Wednesday. It is expected to hike rates by as much as 0.75 percentage point, which would be the sharpest hike in almost 30 years.
Coinbase first hinted that it might cut jobs last month when the company posted an unexpected $430 million net loss in the first quarter. It also recently angered some Coinbase employees by withdrawing some existing job offers.
Armstrong said Tuesday that the company has already cut affected employees' access to Coinbase systems. He defended this as the "only practicable decision to ensure that not a single person makes an ill-considered decision that harms the company or themselves."
Coinbase expects restructuring costs of $40 million to $45 million related to the layoffs, the company said in a report to regulators.
Last week, an anonymous employee petition called for the firing of three senior Coinbase executives for failing multiple product launches, overseeing a toxic work culture, and aggressively hiring thousands of positions "despite it being an untenable plan."
Armstrong called the petition "really stupid on several levels" and urged the disaffected employees to "quit and find a company to work for and believe in."
