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Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

blog.coinbase.com

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Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#211

Post by trompetenaccoun »

scoopertrooper wrote: post #99
blowski wrote: post #53

Why has the crypto boom and bust lined up so closely with the COVID pandemic? Is it a coincidence or is there some underlying cause?

Central bank action. The federal reserve drastically cut rates at the start of the pandemic, so a lot of people were stuck at home with cheap money. Now, inflation is spiking, so the federal reserve raised rates and money isn't as cheap as it used to be, therefore people are pulling out of the market. https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/interest-rate

Add the helicopter money they gave people in many countries, that was also put straight into risky stocks or cryptocurrencies by many people. The monetary policy massively inflated asset prices and now the rug is being pulled under the retail investor's feet. Crypto is only the most obvious because the volatility is so extreme but the same happened in stocks. Almost like it was done intentionally. But who would benefit from such blatant market manipulation?

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-12-07/pandemic-...

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#212

Post by FabHK »

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.

The question is: can you double the pool of people that pay in (the base of the pyramid) one more time? And for the longest time you could, but the end of the line might be reached soon. (Think about how much marketing crypto firms are throwing at people - the stadiums, commercials, ...)

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#214

Post by alephnan »

greatpostman wrote: post #44
hftthrowaway22 wrote: post #26

It’s been pretty interesting watching YC backed Coinbase get absolutely crushed by FTX, which has a higher % of crypto trading volume despite having less than 10% of the headcount. Crypto is a zero sum game, and the old Paul Graham essays and other tired VC dogmas really only work in positive sum games. FTX was founded by traders which is valuable when the ultimate purpose of the crypto industry is to separate uninfo…

Yeah. FTX people clearly know a lot more about market making and how exchanges work. Makes coinbase look like amateurs. Coinbase hired their CPO with a 650 million dollar pay package. They should have spent that money on 2 - 5 million a year hft programmers and traders

I think for a while they were hiring Node.js developers to develop these trading systems

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#215

Post by Maximus9000 »

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…

> we made the decision to cut access to Coinbase systems for affected employees

Apparently they used to do this at Microsoft. Microsoft stopped doing it though because people would freak out if the network ever went down - employees would think "oh my god, I'm about to get fired".

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#216

Post by UncleMeat »

kgermino wrote: post #193
samwillis wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Every tier 1 support rep needs to be able to pull up at least some of my account information. Sure IT and other internal teams shouldn't have direct access, but when your business is managing other people's accounts/money a lot of people will need to have access to customer data.

But you can still restrict that. Make it so every access must be tied to a specific open ticket. Don't just say "well, this person sometimes needs access to a specific customer's information so they can have permanent always-on access to all customer information."

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#217

Post by ohgodplsno »

NikolaNovak wrote: post #159
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

We may be mixing things up. You can definitely be paid laid off employee for a period of time, while having your access revoked. They're completely orthogonal. Depends on role, company, situation. It's an assessment and tradeoff - is it worth / do I need the next two weeks of work and KT from this person, vs the risk of having access. The notion of revoking security access to limit risk is definitely not a US thing.

>You can definitely be paid laid off employee for a period of time, while having your access revoked.

In France, this is a breach of contract as you are not providing your employees with the means to work, and you can be sued for it if it is not done as a disciplinary measure (which you can also be sued for if not done in good faith)

EDIT: my dudes stop trying to link legifrance articles to me, I have literally been in this situation twice, gone to prud'hommes twice and helped multiple friends with such a situation. I'm starting to know our work code a little bit.

EDIT 2: alright, more context for all the nonbelievers and people who never had to face an actual work code:

In the very best case for the employer (in such a way that doesn't expose them to being sued), firing a single employee takes two weeks.

* Initial notification of the firing, with at least 5 days between this notification and the meeting before firing to explain the reasons

* Meeting before firing, a mandatory 48 hours waiting period before taking any decision.

* Notification has to be mailed in as a recommandé, which can only be sent after those 48 hours, and takes a day or two to arrive.

It gets infinitely more complicated for Coinbase sized companies trying to lay off more than 10 people for economical reasons, the company is obligated to have meetings with the employee representatives, at the very least twice spaced by 15 days. For a company the size of Coinbase, the CSE has 2-4 months to answer and can ask for proof that the company is, indeed in financial troubles, having them open their books. https://entreprendre.service-public.fr/vosdroits/F24648

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#219

Post by dgfitz »

UncleMeat wrote: post #208
NikolaNovak wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately it's common enough. It's harsh, it's cold, but ultimately for companies it's a real necessity. The explanation is blunt and correct - even a single malicious actor can enact HUGE devastating harm. It doesn't have to be hot wallet / cold storage. Source code, business plans, revenue & profit statements, SSH to servers, physical access to datacentre, client contact lists, etc etc... there's a myriad thing…

> Friendly, smiley, fake. My father had to lay off a bunch of people in 2008. I am now a manager. He told me that if I am ever forced to do this to not ever do this crap to my team. Tell them that this is bullshit. Tell them that you are upset. Tell them that you haven't slept. Tell them that the are right to be mad, disappointed, and even to hate you for choosing their head to roll. Anything better than fake smiles…

Company I worked at had a layoff in 2012, security manager escorted 200 people out of the building. At the end of the day, he was escorted out of the building. It was quite shitty for that fellow, I felt terrible for him.

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#220

Post by krzyk »

typeofhuman wrote: post #76
ohgodplsno wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It'll all be forgotten when they announce withdrawal freezes. Don't worry, it's for the Safety of the Network ™

Not your keys, not your coins. Don't keep your assets on an exchange.

Yeah, off to do my evacuation to paper wallets and wait 4 years to go back.
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