Billionaire crypto executive Brian Armstrong informed hundreds of employees of their dismissal in a blunt early-morning email, asserting that artificial intelligence has fundamentally altered the nature of work. The co-founder and CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase posted a copy of the message on social media at 6:55 AM on Tuesday.
Armstrong announced that the company would reduce its workforce by 14 percent, affecting approximately 700 individuals. He attributed the decision to the rise of AI and an urgent need to reshape the company's culture. Affected workers were told they would receive further details via email within an hour, but Coinbase employees reported that their system access had already been revoked.
“I know this feels sudden and harsh,” Armstrong wrote, adding that Coinbase made the “difficult decision” because of its “duty to protect customer information.” While he insisted that the company is “well-capitalized” and “positioned for long-term growth,” he acknowledged that “market conditions” necessitated streamlining operations to become “leaner and more efficient.”
Armstrong justified the cuts as part of a broader restructuring at America’s largest crypto exchange, which must become “AI native” after a volatile period for digital currencies. He observed engineers using AI to “ship in days what used to take a team weeks,” while non-technical staff now write production code and other workflows are automated.
Coinbase is the latest tech company to slash its workforce and cite AI as the cause. Cloud computing giant Oracle cut around 30,000 jobs in March and April, with over 10,000 positions eliminated in a single morning. Amazon has cut tens of thousands of corporate roles across multiple rounds in late 2025 and early 2026 to reduce bureaucracy, with its CEO citing the need to “reduce layers” to function “like the world’s largest startup.”
Earlier this month, Meta began another wave of cuts, laying off approximately 8,000 employees—10 percent of its workforce—as it shifts away from its failed metaverse ambitions and toward massive AI investments. Twitter founder Jack Dorsey’s payments company Block axed 40 percent of its workforce, also citing AI, while Atlassian slashed around 10 percent to refocus on the same technology.
Armstrong said he wants to “fundamentally” change how his company operates, “rebuilding Coinbase as an intelligence with humans around the edge.” This requires flattening management structure, eliminating “pure managers,” and pushing leaders to act as “player-coaches” who get their “hands dirty” alongside teams.
Founded in 2012 when Bitcoin was priced at just $6, Coinbase was one of the first crypto exchanges. It went public at the height of the pandemic cryptocurrency craze, when Bitcoin had surged thousands of percent to around $70,000. Since then, the company’s fortunes have fluctuated with the crypto market. Its market value crashed 75 percent after the Bitcoin boom turned to bust, then surged to an all-time high as Bitcoin rose to about $120,000 last year. However, trading volumes have since languished as Bitcoin entered a slump and the tech industry’s attention shifted to AI.
