New York, May 5, 2026, 10:02 EDT
Coinbase Global said on Tuesday it will cut about 700 jobs, or roughly 14% of its global workforce, in a restructuring meant to lower costs and rework the crypto exchange for the artificial intelligence era. Artificial intelligence, or AI, refers to software that can automate tasks, generate code and support decisions that once needed more human work. The company expects the plan to be largely complete in the second quarter and to record about $50 million to $60 million in charges, mostly severance and other termination benefits, a filing showed.
The move lands at a weak point for crypto trading platforms, where revenue can turn fast when customers trade less. “April trading activity across digital asset exchanges has slowed,” Jefferies analyst Daniel T. Fannon wrote in a note cited by Reuters, which said the softer start had put the second quarter on a weaker footing. Reuters
It also comes two days before Coinbase is due to discuss first-quarter results. Coinbase shares were up 0.5% at $204.02 in early New York trading, holding a modest gain after the layoff plan became public.
Chief Executive Brian Armstrong told employees that two forces were pushing the company to move now: the market and AI. Coinbase was well capitalized, he wrote, but its business remained “volatile from quarter to quarter” and the company was “currently in a down market.” Coinbase
Armstrong also pointed to a shift in work inside the company. Engineers were using AI to “ship in days what used to take a team weeks,” while non-technical teams were writing production code and automating workflows, he said in the employee message later shared publicly. The Times of India
The restructuring is not just a headcount cut. Coinbase plans to flatten the company to five layers below the CEO and COO, require managers to act more like individual contributors, and test smaller “AI-native pods” — teams built around people using AI agents to do more work with fewer staff. TechCrunch
Affected U.S. employees will receive at least 16 weeks of base pay, two more weeks for each year worked, their next equity vest and six months of COBRA, the U.S. program that lets former employees keep employer health coverage. Workers on visas will get extra transition support, while non-U.S. staff will receive support based on local rules, Armstrong said.
The pressure is not limited to Coinbase. Robinhood, a rival trading platform with a crypto business, said last week that crypto notional trading volumes in its app fell 48% year over year in the first quarter to $24 billion, even as equities and options activity rose.
But the plan carries execution risk. Coinbase said actual restructuring costs could differ from its estimate because of local law, consultation rules and unanticipated events; the bigger question is whether the company can cut enough expense without losing speed if crypto trading rebounds before the new AI-heavy model proves itself.
Coinbase said it would give more detail on its expense outlook during its first-quarter earnings call on Thursday. That call now has a sharper question in front of it: whether AI can really offset a smaller workforce in a business still tied closely to crypto market cycles.
