Crypto exchanges Coinbase and BlockFi lay off hundreds of staff

Crypto exchanges Coinbase and BlockFi are laying off hundreds of staff members, equivalent to a fifth of their workforces, as they struggle to survive the second wave of the ongoing crypto crash.

Employees at Coinbase, once the flagship US cryptocurrency exchange, will learn whether they have lost their jobs in an email today. Those who have been laid off will be notified on their personal email account, the chief executive, Brian Armstrong, said, because their access to company systems will be terminated immediately.

Almost 20% of Coinbase staff will lose their jobs, Armstrong said, totalling about 1,100 employees, even after the company embarked on a hiring freeze that resulted in it rescinding already-issued job offers.