Coinbase shares pop as CEO Brian Armstrong cuts 700 jobs and blames AI

Coinbase just cut 700 jobs. But Wall Street is liking what it sees.

Coinbase shares popped as much as 4% early on Tuesday morning after the flagship US crypto exchange announced it was slashing about 14% of its global workforce in a sweeping restructuring that refocuses the company around artificial intelligence.

CEO Brian Armstrong broke the news in an email to employees, citing two punishing forces: a reeling market still down about $1.5 trillion from its peak, and AI.

"Over the past year, I've watched engineers use AI to ship in days what used to take a team weeks," Armstrong wrote in the email, which he reposted on X. "Non-technical teams are now shipping production code and many of our workflows are being automated."

“We’re fundamentally changing how we operate: rebuilding Coinbase as an intelligence, with humans around the edge aligning it,” he added.

As of December 31, Coinbase had 4,951 employees, according to its 2025 financial report. Based on that figure, the exchange's 14% job cut impacts 693 employees.

The move puts Coinbase in company with Meta, which is cutting roughly 10% of its workforce, and Microsoft, which is trimming headcount through a voluntary retirement programme. Across many high-flying tech companies, the logic has been the same.

The exchange expects to incur $50 million to $60 million in restructuring charges, mostly recognised in the second quarter. The market's reaction in early hours trading suggests investors view the cuts as a long-overdue reset.

Armstrong said he wants no more than five management layers below the CEO, leaders with up to 15 direct reports, and what he bills as "AI-native pods" — small, focused teams where a single person can combine the roles of engineer, designer, and product manager.

“The future is small, high context teams that can move quickly,” he said.

A familiar story

This is not Coinbase's first encounter with the axe.

The exchange has cut staff in every major crypto downturn since its launch in 2012, underscoring just how tightly its fortunes remain leashed to the price of Bitcoin and the mood of crypto markets.

The current downturn has been particularly bruising. Bitcoin is still down 35% from its October 2025 peak of $126,000, even as the S&P 500 reached an all-time high in April.

“We are adjusting early and deliberately to rebuild Coinbase to be lean,” Armstrong said.

Lance Datskoluo is DL News’ Europe-based markets correspondent. Got a tip? Email him at lance@dlnews.com