Top crypto exchange Coinbase freezes hiring, revokes accepted offers

New Delhi: Leading crypto exchange Coinbase, which halted payments via unified payments interface (UPI) mode on its app in India in April, on Friday announced to pause hiring for as long as the global macro-economic factors remain in place.

The company also revoked accepted offers from some candidates who haven’t joined it yet.

“After assessing our business priorities, current headcount, and open roles, we have decided to pause hiring for as long as this macro environment requires,” LJ Brock, Chief People Officer at Coinbase, said in a statement.

The extended hiring pause will include backfills, “except for roles that are necessary to meet the high standards we set for security and compliance, or to support other mission-critical work”, he added.

The crypto exchange paused hiring two weeks back and now, it has become evident that “we need to take more stringent measures to slow our headcount growth”.

The company will also rescind a number of outstanding offers for people who have not started yet.

“This is not a decision we make lightly, but is necessary to ensure we are only growing in the highest-priority areas. Limited exceptions apply and will be managed by the same criteria as backfills. All incoming hires will be advised of their updated offer status by email,” Brock informed.

Admitting that crypto would be volatile, but that “volatility alongside larger economic factors may test the company, and us personally, in new ways”.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong in May revealed that it quit India operations owing to “informal pressure” from the Reserve Bank of India.

“There are elements in the government there, including at the Reserve Bank of India, who don’t seem to be as positive on it. And so they — in the press, it’s been called a ‘shadow ban’, basically, they’re applying soft pressure behind the scenes to try to disable some of these payments, which might be going through UPI,” Armstrong told analysts during the company’s earnings call.

The crypto exchange reported its first net loss as a public company of $430 million in the first quarter this year.

The exchange had launched its crypto trading services in India on April 7.