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Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

blog.coinbase.com

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Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#171

Post by t_mann »

Barrera wrote: post #60

> If you are affected, you will receive this notification in your personal email, because we made the decision to cut access to Coinbase systems for affected employees. I realize that removal of access will feel sudden and unexpected, and this is not the experience I wanted for you. Given the number of employees who have access to sensitive customer information, it was unfortunately the only practical choice, to ensu…

In finance it's pretty common practice (and in that sense Coinbase is similar to a broker). I remember stories about how half (?) the people working at UBS London came to work one morning to find that their badges didn't unlock the entrance gates anymore. And lots of stories like that in the years following the 2008 crash.

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#172

Post by danuker »

hansonkd13 wrote: post #150
golergka wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Crypto is a zero sum game How come? The same network effects that work for social networks work here, as more people and businesses use crypto, it's value proposition raises quadratically.

The main value proposition is to sell to the next person for more than you paid. Everything else about banking the unbanked or other vague goals about being better than fiat are to convince the next bag holder.

> The main value proposition is to sell to the next person for more than you paid.

I agree. But I genuinely believe "bagholders" will be better off compared to saving in their own national currency - provided they manage their risk correctly.

This is because national currencies keep inflating, so even a decreasing demand might maintain the same price, given the supply inflation difference.

Since the pandemic, BTC has acted like the S&P500 with 4x leverage, but no margin calls (loss limited to what you invested).

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#173

Post by tluyben2 »

blowski wrote: post #97
togaen wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course: governments around the world flooded markets with stimulus cash and it all had to go somewhere. Now they are unwinding stimulus and it’s going away. Every reasonable observer has just been waiting for this to happen.

I thought crypto would collapse every year for the last 14 years, and I've been proven wrong every time. So I'm wondering why this time I'm right.

It has crashed many times but don’t forget; the last real recession was 2008; that’s 14 years ago; we have not had a financial crash since so we don’t know (well we do but the pundits say we don’t) how it will hold up. I think if ‘22 turns into a recession like I think it will, crypto might collapse; if not collapse, then at least fall further than believers would ever think. I would say btc will be a few k or less if a recession happens.

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#174

Post by hourago »

samwillis wrote: post #128
Barrera wrote: post #60

> If you are affected, you will receive this notification in your personal email, because we made the decision to cut access to Coinbase systems for affected employees. I realize that removal of access will feel sudden and unexpected, and this is not the experience I wanted for you. Given the number of employees who have access to sensitive customer information, it was unfortunately the only practical choice, to ensu…

To be honest this is the more concerning thing in that quoted statement: > "Given the number of employees who have access to sensitive customer information" Surly they should have very very few employs that have access to that type of information?

You are completely right. Sensitive customer information should be only accessible as a per need basis. It's very bad practice, possibly illegal in many countries, to have free access to production customer data. It's also quite dangerous for a big company. Production databases should not be accessible by developers, logs should need enough to debug problems, and should be scrapped after some time. Metrics can be stored as long as needed, as should not contain personal data but just counters, averages, etc.

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#175

Post by the_lonely_road »

a_chris wrote: post #131
nemo44x wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pretty standard to not let terminated employees hang around. It feels cold but it’s just the way it has to be. Sone places will even do this when an employee submits a resignation on good terms. Just a way for the company to cover themselves.

This is absolutely untrue. In Europe we work several days/weeks after the layoff notice. You can fire people from the night to the morning only in US

Only in the US? What about Australia or Canada? What about China or Russia? You have no idea how hard it can be to fire a state or federal employee here in the US. I’m guessing there are regions or industries in Europe where it is easy to fire employees. The situation is so much more complex than US bad Europe good. Poorly constructed swipes like this are becoming more and more common and it’s disappointing.

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#176

Post by tdudzik »

a_chris wrote: post #131
nemo44x wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pretty standard to not let terminated employees hang around. It feels cold but it’s just the way it has to be. Sone places will even do this when an employee submits a resignation on good terms. Just a way for the company to cover themselves.

This is absolutely untrue. In Europe we work several days/weeks after the layoff notice. You can fire people from the night to the morning only in US

In Europe I think it's far less common to be fired in the first place, I actually know zero people that was ever fired (but I'm not saying that it doesn't happen, I think it even happened recently at Klarna).

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#177

Post by indymike »

synu wrote: post #137
a_chris wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is absolutely untrue. In Europe we work several days/weeks after the layoff notice. You can fire people from the night to the morning only in US

In Europe you have to keep paying the person, but it's not uncommon for them to be told not to come in anymore.

This is true in the US as well. While in some cases you can lay someone off, and immediately stop paying, most of the time there is a period where the former employee will be paid and not have to come to work (or really, allowed to).

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#178

Post by tinco »

samwillis wrote: post #128
Barrera wrote: post #60

> If you are affected, you will receive this notification in your personal email, because we made the decision to cut access to Coinbase systems for affected employees. I realize that removal of access will feel sudden and unexpected, and this is not the experience I wanted for you. Given the number of employees who have access to sensitive customer information, it was unfortunately the only practical choice, to ensu…

To be honest this is the more concerning thing in that quoted statement: > "Given the number of employees who have access to sensitive customer information" Surly they should have very very few employs that have access to that type of information?

As a teenager I worked an evening job at one of the largest banks in the world, processing mail-in credit card orders. I would sit at a computer, run an app that could query any bank account number, and I'd get their current balance (along with all other personal info). It was part of a series of checks I had to do to make sure they qualified for the credit card.

One kid definitely got fired for querying data on persons they weren't supposed to query for.

With work-from-home, I can imagine there's employees with all sorts of access. And with them being a startup, who knows how much controls they've got in place yet.

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#179

Post by bko »

graeme wrote: post #123
llamaimperative wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you make of Sam Bankman-Fried describing his business as a literal Ponzi scheme on Odd Lots podcast? The commentary isn’t necessary to see the insanity but here’s fastest way to get to the relevant content: https://youtu.be/C6nAxiym9oc Edit: To clarify, though not sure how much a mitigation this is, yes SBF is describing much of the underlying activity he takes commission on as a Ponzi scheme. Sure, he’s not…

He described defi yields as a literal ponzi. Sam Bankman Fried’s business is charging commissions to people in the ponzi and trading against them and he does a good job of that. As an aside, for those who like names as destiny, SBF’s is epic I.e. Bernie Madoff made off with their money Nuke Goldstein of Celsius nuked depositors money You get: Scam-Bankman Fried Or also Sam Bank-Man Fried (if they go bust) This sort o…

I want an exchange to be neutral. I don't want them to pick and choose the products I'm allowed to trade. Outright fraud should be avoided, but if someone wants to buy a shitcoin, they should be allowed to do so.

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#180

Post by freeone3000 »

choeger wrote: post #6
anshublog wrote: post #2

This is sad. This was avoidable. There’s no recession as far as the eye can see. There’s a crypto recession. Let’s go back to building real tech.

>There’s no recession as far as the eye can see. Back your pardon? The Fed is expected to raise the interest rate by 0.75% in September, IIRC. If that's not a recession on the horizon, then what is?

Two straight quarters of declining GDP. Merely raising interest rates to a sane figure (still below 3%!) isn't recession-causing in any sane economy.
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