Coinbase is cutting 14 per cent of its workforce. The reason it gave was not the crypto downturn. It was AI.

Coinbase cuts 14% of staff and rebuilds around AI-native pods as crypto revenue collapses 26%

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Coinbase is cutting 14 per cent of its workforce. The reason it gave was not the crypto downturn, but AI.

May 5, 2026 – 1:45 pm

Coinbase is cutting 14% of its workforce and restructuring around AI-native “pods,” despite reporting a quarter in which revenue fell 26% and crypto trading volumes hit an 18-month low just two days prior.

Coinbase is cutting approximately 660 employees, or 14 per cent, of its workforce of 4,700. This announcement came just two days before the company’s worst quarterly earnings as a public company.

CEO Brian Armstrong announced the layoffs in a letter to staff, framing AI as a catalyst for this restructuring. The future, according to Armstrong, involves "intelligence, with humans around the edge."

The numbers tell a different story:

• Wall Street expects Coinbase’s first quarter 2026 revenue of roughly $1.5 billion, a 26% decline from last year.
• Earnings per share are projected at 36 cents, down from $1.94 a year ago.
• Consumer transaction revenue plummeted 45% year-on-year to $734 million as cryptocurrency prices collapsed.
• Global crypto exchange volume fell nearly 48% from its October 2025 peak to $4.3 trillion in March, the lowest level since October 2024.
• Coinbase stock is trading 57 per cent below its 52-week high of $444.65.

The restructuring aims to eliminate pure management roles, limit the organization to five layers beneath the CEO and COO, and introduce AI-native pods: small teams, some as small as one person, leveraging AI tools for tasks once handled by departments.

This shift is deliberate: Armstrong presents it as a structural evolution rather than a cost-cutting measure driven by market turmoil.