Coinbase extends hiring freeze, rescinds ‘a number’ of accepted job offers

Cryptocurrency marketplace Coinbase Global Inc. said Thursday it will extend its hiring freeze indefinitely, and rescind “a number” of already accepted job offers.

“We will extend our hiring pause for the foreseeable future,” Coinbase
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+7.56%

said in a blog post, citing current market conditions and efforts to revamp its business. “We will also rescind a number of outstanding offers for people who have not started yet.”

The company said incoming hires will be notified of the rescinded job offers by email, and indicated they would be paid a severance.

Also read: Billionaire Winklevoss twins to lay off 10% of Gemini employees, blaming ‘crypto winter’

Last month, Coinbase said it was scaling back expansion plans for this year and paused hiring, again citing current market conditions.

 “As these discussions have evolved, it’s become evident that we need to take more stringent measures to slow our headcount growth,” the company said Thursday. “We always knew crypto would be volatile, but that volatility alongside larger economic factors may test the company, and us personally, in new ways.” 

The crypto market has fallen off a cliff this year — bitcoin
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is down 35% and Ethereum
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+0.18%

has lost 50% in 2022 — and Coinbase shares have tumbled more than 70% year to date.