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Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

blog.coinbase.com

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Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#251

Post by FabHK »

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

FTX's CEO SBF also doesn't believe in crypto, as far as I can say, but just sees it as a means to make some money for philanthropy (effective altruism). That might make him less prone to succumb to the hype and over-invest.

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#252

Post by hcmacro »

Redoubts wrote: post #122
hcmacro wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In which prior downturn did the valuation of Coinbase (and other unicorns) get nuked -90%?

In which prior downturn were they even listed?

Does it really matter? It's almost assured that private valuations will get written down with a lag (already underway). Favorable public markets are what allowed VCs to foist the turd on the greater fool for a decade.

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#253

Post by ewindal »

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.

Have had colleagues who were required to not work for their resignation period (3 months). "Professional quarantine," since they were going to competitors.

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#254

Post by xyzzyz »

ohgodplsno wrote: post #217
NikolaNovak wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

So if you want to lay someone off in France, you have to allow them access to company facilities and systems and allow them to work? You cannot just pay them through their severance period, but tell them to stay home? If so, that’s absurd, and I don’t see what purpose it would serve.

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#255

Post by robin_reala »

kamyarg wrote: post #163
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

I have seen people fired in the morning and their access cutoff by noon and them being asked to go on "gardening leave" in Europe. This is rare but depends on your manager, if they don't want you around. You will still be paid for the remaining of your "employment" but will not be working.

It’s also more typical in situations where serious damage could be done by a malicious act. I’ve seen a UK Finance Director escorted from his desk because of this.

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#256

Post by differentView »

ohgodplsno wrote: post #217
NikolaNovak wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

There's no way this is true.

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#257

Post by bambax »

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.

Yes but you can't really "cut them off". You can tell them they don't need to be there, and most will be happy not to. But you can't revoke their access for no reason.

If you want to do that you need to prove they have (already) committed a fault of such gravity that allowing them to stay would harm the company irremediably -- it's a high bar to cross.

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#258

Post by Closi »

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.

In the UK you have to provide employees with a consultation period, which is typically done while the employee is still carrying out their day-to-day jobs (dependent on the reason for the redundancy). I believe it is similar in other EU companies.

See here: https://www.gov.uk/redundancy-your-rights/consultation

Revoking access and not allowing users to complete their jobs would often be seen as a failure to consult (see, for instance, the recent P&O ferries dismissals where they immediately removed ship access from the crew, replaced them with oversees workers, and then began consultation. This was a failure to consult and was found to be illegal).

People tend not to do rash things anyway during this period, as gross misconduct during that time would mean the employee is instantly fired regardless with zero redundancy pay. Treat people fairly and as adults and they tend to behave fairly and respond as adults. Treat people as untrustworthy and rash, and they tend to respond with the same.

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#259

Post by kaesar14 »

xnorswap wrote: post #154
PhoenixReborn wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect most of the layoffs are in the US, where no such protections apply.

I suspect you're right, but Coinbase does have a reasonably large London office from their job postings. If anyone there is affected it is important they know their rights. I have worked for US companies going through a mass redundancy where they just avoided any UK based redundancies to avoid the headache. I also value making clear to US-based readers that such protections are important and do make a difference to h…

Unfortunately that world also leads to overly bloated corporations that are never able to clean house.

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#260

Post by xyzzyz »

tdudzik wrote: post #176
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 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).

I’ve known dozens of people fired by Google in a mass layoff, when they decided to close one of their offices. The process has stretched for months.
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