Coinbase to lay off 18% of workers as crypto winter worsens

Coinbase had hired aggressively in recent years, with its workforce ballooning by about 1,200 employees this year. Picture: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg

Coinbase Global Inc. announced Tuesday it will lay off 18% of its workforce in another sign of a worsening crypto downturn that’s shaved off hundreds of millions of the total cryptocurrency market value.

The U.S.’s biggest crypto exchange is following in the footsteps of other cryptocurrency-related businesses that have recently cut staff, including rival exchange Gemini Trust Co. and lender BlockFi Inc., both of which cited the arrival of a crypto winter -- a prolonged downturn -- as the reason for the layoffs.