Crypto Exchange Coinbase Fires More Than 15 Remotely Located Employees

News | October 29, 2018 By:

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has reportedly laid off more than 15 employees from its customer support, compliance, and fraud departments.

Yahoo Finance reported that most of the employees were remote workers. Some were part of a customer service team that Coinbase announced back in 2013. While it confirmed the layoffs, Coinbase did not confirm the number of employees it dismissed.

However, an inside source told Yahoo Finance that the number of staffs being cut are more than 15 people. The source said, “People here are pretty upset about it, and so far senior leadership is handling communications poorly.”

In January of this year, Coinbase hired former Twitter executive Tina Bhatnagar to lead all operational teams related to Coinbase customers. According to the source, Bhatnagar wants the customer service staff centralized in Coinbase’s offices. As such, the support staff at remote locations were let go, although some were offered the chance to relocate to a Coinbase office.

“We’ve learned that certain teams who are co-located are more efficient, effective, and happier in their roles,” Coinbase said in a statement. “So moving forward, some teams—including Support, Fraud, and Compliance — will only hire employees into Coinbase offices. We will continue to be open to remote employees for jobs that are hard to fill locally to an office.”

This year’s prolonged bear market has caused Coinbase’s trading volumes to plunge substantially. Earlier this year, research firm Diar reported that Coinbase has experienced an 83 percent decline in daily trading volume since January 2018. Diar calculated the company’s value at 3.9 billion dollars in July, compared to over $21 billion in January.