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Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

blog.coinbase.com

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Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#331

Post by iamacyborg »

Closi wrote: post #258
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.

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 (…

This assumes that the employee has been working for the company for more than 2 years. If it's less than that, they have no such protection and can be fired for any reason whatsoever.

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#332

Post by shippintoboston »

puranjay wrote: post #312
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…

Alameda is the single scariest entity in crypto. They're absolutely brutal. I exit every trade once it becomes apparent that Alameda is in. If I was a VC firm, however, I would back anything SBF was doing. He's a genius when it comes to making money.

Sorry, what does SBF stand for?

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#333

Post by CydeWeys »

timmg wrote: post #280
puranjay wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Case in point: OpenSea's monthly volume: https://dune.com/rchen8/opensea There's no hiding on the blockchain. Monthly volume has gone down from a peak of nearly $5B in January to $372M in June so far.

Those charts look way less dire than I would have expected. June isn't halfway through yet. So I'm not sure what to think of that. But prior to June, they had been doing ~$200M in "fees" monthly -- fairly consistently, for almost a year. That's more of a "business" (and more stable) than I would have guessed.

Most of those $200M in fees are Ethereum gas fees that are being burnt on-chain. Those aren't income for OpenSea, they're costs incurred by all parties as part of doing business.

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#334

Post by ghaff »

NikolaNovak wrote: post #149
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…

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…

At a long ago company I worked at for quite a few years, there were various periods when you knew layoffs were going to be happening. There were also rare occasions when logins (these were terminals) would go out for some reason. When the two things intersected, it was very nervous making until you determined everyone was out.

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#335

Post by refurb »

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…

Wait, France makes it illegal to keep paying an employee and tell them not to do any work?

That sounds awful.

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#336

Post by GekkePrutser »

bambax wrote: post #257
synu wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I think they can cut you off here but it's less common.

If I get fired from my company I get like a year's wage to go (and government assistance after that) so I wouldn't be that upset. Hence no need for a disorderly exit.

I think it's more in the US when people are let go with nothing, I think it's pretty obvious that they'd be pissed about it.

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#337

Post by pge »

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…

I've participated in a number of layoffs, and while I agree with the advice to be honest, not fake smiley, with you'll-land-on-your-feet platitudes, I would strongly recommend not talking about your own feelings. It's not about YOU (the person doing the layoff who gets to keep his job), it's about THEM (the people losing their jobs who probably earn less than you and have less financial security). Telling them how hard it is for you comes across as self absorbed and can provoke a strong negative reaction. Instead, be understanding, give them space to be angry and hurt, and help them any way you can.

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#338

Post by Closi »

ivan_gammel wrote: post #288
Closi wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 (…

Consultation seems to be more like an explicitly defined way to fire an employee (they are entitled to learn why and what has been done to try to keep them). It does not look like it is prohibiting garden leave.

In the UK, if you place an employee on garden leave immediately there is a legal argument during tribunal that the redundancy was predetermined (and thus unfair).

You mentioned that "they are entitled to learn why and what has been done to try to keep them", but actually it's much further than that - they are entitled to be part of the conversation and to propose alternatives to the dismissal which the company is legally obligated to consider.

As an example, if the redundancy proposes to make a team redundant and split that teams responsibilities across other teams, the consultation might raise that the team being made redundant could take on additional responsibilities and down-size as an alternative which could result in fewer redundancies. Similarly, employees could suggest an initial round of voluntary redundancies first to reduce the people impact (particularly if there are employees nearing retirement age). The employer is legally obligated to genuinely consider these alternatives, however if the action was taken immediately to disband the team and place employees on gardening leave it is much more difficult for them to argue that the consultation was 'genuine'.

If a genuine consultation is not held, where alternatives are listened to and genuinely considered, this could then be brought to an employment tribunal and could open them to unfair dismissal claims.

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#339

Post by ivan_gammel »

ohgodplsno wrote: post #294
ivan_gammel wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you sure? This is a quite common practice for businesses to put the fired employees on paid leave until the contract is terminated, I would be really surprised if that would not be possible in France. Article L1234-5 [1] of French Labor Code looks like it is possible. * [1] https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/codes/id/LEGISCTA000006195622...

Paid leave is entirely different. Paid leave is, well, leave. You do not have to show up to the office, unable to do anything. L1234-5 (which is a very nice number) merely says that you have to pay the employee a compensation if the préavis is not respected, equal to the amount of days the employee would have worked, in addition to everything else (severance package, etc). It gets more complicated in the case of mass…

How is it different? If you are on paid leave, you are not supposed to do any work. For security reasons your access can and should be restricted for this period.

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#340

Post by adventured »

Hellbanevil wrote: post #300
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…

Can anyone explain their 6 plus billion dollar yearly operating costs? I hope it's not mainly advertising.

Their operating expense over the past year was $4.35 billion. Cost of revenue was $1.3b, leaving the $1.5b operating income.

$745m selling & marketing expense over the past year (SG&A was $1.95b overall).

$1.67b expense for R&D.

$733m for other.

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