Crypto exchange Coinbase to lay off more employees amid FTX saga

SAN FRANCISCO: Leading crypto exchange Coinbase will lay off more employees soon in a fresh round of job cuts, as the world of crypto faces another existential threat after the FTX collapse, the media reported.

The layoffs were announced internally and the company is likely to sack around 60 employees in its recruiting and institutional onboarding teams, reports The Information.

The cuts will take place as the broader cryptocurrency industry is in chaos due to the ongoing FTX saga which has alarmed investors and caused cryptocurrency values to sink further.

Crypto exchange FTX Founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried told investors that he needed emergency funding to cover a shortfall of up to $8 billion due to withdrawal requests received in recent days.

Leading crypto exchange Binance has also pulled out of the FTX acquisition deal.

Even before the FTX problems, Coinbase had tried to control costs, as declining crypto trading volumes were hurting this year's revenue, the report said.

In June this year, the crypto exchange company had announced to lay off 18 per cent of its workforce, or about 1,100 jobs amid the economic downturn.

Brian Armstrong, CEO and co-founder had said that while the company tried its best to get this just right, in this case, it was clear that it had over-hired.

Now, the collapse of the FTX crypto exchange has brought yet another round of threats to the crypto industry as a whole amid Bitcoin and other crypto values dropping further.