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Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

blog.coinbase.com

411–420 of 616 posts

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#412
Still, he doesn't mention the ultimate reason for all this, which is that crypto is not sustainable and is a glorified vaporware that pretentiously tried to convince the world that it was a solution while, in reality, became simply a different problem.

I don't think we are now in a better position than before crypto. I honestly think that we wouldn't miss it if it was gone.

Sorry, I had to finally vomit my frustration about the subject.

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#413
post #360

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Firing someone is the result of poor performance or unacceptable behaviour. In many jurisdictions (not in the US I suppose), before firing someone for poor performance they must be told that their performance is inadequate and be given a chance to improve. Bottom line, in general being fired is fully on the person being fired so no need to sugar-coat or to feel bad.

>In many jurisdictions (not in the US I suppose), before firing someone for poor performance they must be told that their performance is inadequate and be given a chance to improve. Performance Improvement Plans are a thing at larger companies. That said, once someone is on a PIP, the handwriting is almost certainly on the wall. I've also worked with people who were incredibly oblivious about the quality of their wor…

I think managers call HR and put a person on a PIP only after good will and patience have been exhausted, so it's a sign that the person does not improve despite feedback and that management has had enough... So, yeah, writing is on the wall.

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#414

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.

I don't use it for payments due to regulatory headaches. But the supply-side economics is not to ignore. It is advantageous to Bitcoin. US M2 money supply grew 8.04% in the past year [0], while Bitcoin's grew ~1.75% [1]. Yes, demand has its 80% ups and downs, but each crash was to a level higher than the previous. [0] - https://ycharts.com/indicators/us_m2_money_supply_yoy [1] - https://charts.woobull.com/bitcoin-inf…

And that makes it a horrible currency. It makes it highly deflationary which absolutely stunts the working of an economy because no one wants to spend anymore.

Good currencies are not stores of value. They are means of exchange. And crypto is a horrible means of exchange.

It may have some use as a store of value (i.e. digital gold), but it's not clear to me why I would store my value in digital gold, which will require people to altruistically spend money on energy after 2040 or so when no more Bitcoins are generated for miners (in practice much earlier as each mined BTC gets increasingly expensive), to maintain the blockchain, as opposed to investing in real gold, which can literally sit under my mattress and not require a network of planet burning computers for it to not vanish.

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#415

Coinbase is such a trash company...It's exec's running the company have no idea what they are doing. From a consumer standpoint it's been a nightmare...They basically locked my account for unknown reasons to me, then stated they can't disclose there reasoning. I then had to open multiple support cases and wait a month before being able to move USD back to my bank...

No post body was provided.

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#417

What struck me about this announcement was that the CEO states a couple of times that he is accountable for the decision, but doesn't say what form that accountability takes. I try not to be cynical, but I suspect in this case that there will be no actual, real accountability.

He just bought a house for $133,000,000. That's enough to give everyone who was laid off slightly a severance of more than $120,000. Somehow I'm expecting accountability to be significantly less than that.

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#418
post #338

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 leg…

Maybe only a few countries allow to terminate and put on garden leave immediately, I'm not talking about them. There's always some procedure that ensures that dismissal is fair and justified: when this procedure is concluded and there's no other option found but to fire, the employee should not be entitled to work until contract is terminated - they can be put on the garden leave and in that case their access should be terminated, the equipment they used can be sold etc.

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#419
Isn't the promise of the web is that it's supposed to scale without a commensurate increase in man power. If so why are companies laying off staff when things get rough. Were these staff not needed to start with if so why were they employed to start with. Or are they eating the seed corn so to speak?

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#420
post #360

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>In many jurisdictions (not in the US I suppose), before firing someone for poor performance they must be told that their performance is inadequate and be given a chance to improve. Performance Improvement Plans are a thing at larger companies. That said, once someone is on a PIP, the handwriting is almost certainly on the wall. I've also worked with people who were incredibly oblivious about the quality of their wor…

> once someone is on a PIP, the handwriting is almost certainly on the wall. My current manager is particularly transparent about this (with other managers, at least). When he puts someone on a PIP, it is a formality. He deliberately chooses a redemption project that is impossible to achieve. Edit: Jeez, guys, don't downvote -me- ;-). It's not my policy.

In a better world, that would be illegal.
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