After initially delaying recruiting, Coinbase's CEO revealed intentions to downsize its workforce by 18 percent, blaming the onset of a recession

Armstrong stressed that the company has expanded "too rapidly," with the number of Coinbase workers reaching 1,250 by early 2021. According to the CEO, the team has quadrupled in size over the previous 18 months, and their staff expenses are too costly to handle this unpredictable industry successfully.

We appear to be entering a recession after a 10+ year economic boom. A recession could lead to another crypto winter, and could last for an extended period,

According to the release, all leaving workers would get assistance in finding a new position, as well as a minimum of 14 weeks of severance and an extra two weeks for every year of service beyond the first. The additional assistance consists of four months of health insurance in the United States and four months of mental health care worldwide.

Armstrong rushed to Twitter on Friday to chastise Coinbase's workers for submitting a public petition to remove several top Coinbase executives in a vote of no confidence. Coinbase's major layoff news followed soon afterwards. The petition demanded the dismissal of chief operating officer Emilie Choi, chief product officer Surojit Chatterjee, and chief people officer LJ Brock in particular. Coinbase's management team has made choices "not in the best interests of the firm, its workers, and its shareholders." The petitioners contended that these judgments contributed to negative outcomes such as the collapse of the Coinbase NFT platform, a hostile working atmosphere, and apathy shown by top management and others.

Coinbase, a major U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange, is reducing its workforce in response to Bitcoin's near $21,000 two-year low. Coinbase had earlier declared in May that it will reduce recruiting and reevaluate its staff to guarantee the company's continued operation.

“The crypto space is still in its early stages, and bull markets tend to care more about price while bear markets have more value-conscious teams that continue to build the industry. We see this as a great time to bring on top talent,”

Binance CEO CZ explained. Despite the fact that some crypto firms continue to reduce the size of their employees, others continue to recruit fresh talent. Binance, one of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, still has over 2,000 unfilled positions for engineers, product, marketing, and business professionals.

In announcing a new massive layoff, Coinbase joins a growing list of companies that have had to reduce their workforces due to the ongoing bear market, including Winklevoss-founded Gemini, crypto-friendly trading platform Robinhood, and the BlockFi trading platform, which announced on Monday that it would be laying off 20 percent of its workforce.

Saturday, the CEO of Crypto.com, Kris Marszalek, said through Twitter that the Singapore-based exchange will lay off 260 employees, or 5 percent of its staff.