(AsiaGameHub) –   On Tuesday, Coinbase announced it will cut roughly 700 roles, accounting for 14% of its total staff, as the crypto trading platform restructures its expenses amid a sluggish market.

Key Highlights

• Coinbase projects severance-related expenses will fall between $50 million and $60 million.
• The firm intends to have just five tiers of management beneath the CEO and COO.
• Brian Armstrong noted that AI now enables smaller teams to develop products more quickly.

Coinbase Outlines Plans for Slimmer Teams and Increased AI Integration

As Coinbase reduces its headcount, it is also overhauling its team operations. CEO Brian Armstrong published an internal memo on the company’s official blog, detailing plans for a less hierarchical structure, more involved management, and greater adoption of AI tools.

Per the company, the restructuring will bring down the number of management tiers to five under the CEO and COO. Team leads may now supervise over 15 direct reports, and managers will be required to make hands-on contributions rather than only monitoring team output.

Armstrong linked the job cuts to the cyclical nature of the crypto market and existing revenue pressures. He wrote:

“Though we have navigated this kind of market cyclicality many times in the past and emerged stronger on the other side, we are currently operating in a market downturn and must adjust our cost structure now to exit this period slimmer, more agile, and more efficient for our next stage of growth.”

The firm also intends to pilot smaller teams that depend more heavily on AI tools. Armstrong revealed that Coinbase will trial “one-person teams” that handle engineering, design, and product management responsibilities all at once. He added:

“AI is transforming our approach to work. Over the past year, I have observed engineers using AI to launch features in days that previously took entire teams weeks to complete. Non-technical teams are now deploying production code, and a large share of our workflows have been automated. The speed at which a small, focused team can deliver results has shifted drastically, and this trend is speeding up each day […] This represents an entirely new model of work, and we need to leverage AI across every facet of our roles.”

Coinbase revealed in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that its severance expenses will likely range from $50 million to $60 million. The exchange positioned the layoffs as one component of a broader strategy to operate more quickly with fewer management tiers and smaller team sizes.