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Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

blog.coinbase.com

461–470 of 616 posts

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#461
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…

> I realize that removal of access will feel sudden and unexpected, and this is not the experience I wanted for you.

Then don't fucking give it. Or don't write this sentence.

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#462
post #454
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…

There's a lot of commentary on this, but people seem to be conflating a couple of points - namely that this cut all access - everything, and emailed to personal email and not just access to "secure" systems. That is pretty unusual, and not something I've seen. Typically access to sensitive systems is cut, but cutting everything and notifying to personal email seems unusual. Sensitive information should always be segr…

> Sensitive information should always be segregated and subject to tight controls, which is easy to sever

This, very few people should have access to production data. This is a shocking revelation. I’m reevaluating being a customer of theirs.

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#463

So when the CEO said "leave". He was trying his hardest to get get his employees to leave so he doesn't have to pay severance.

I don't think so. I assume that he asked people to leave because he wanted fewer people included in the layoff who actually care about the company.

The above statements are not mutually exclusive.

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#464

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…

> Tell them that the are right to be mad, disappointed, and even to hate you for choosing their head to roll.

This is OK.

> Tell them that you are upset. Tell them that you haven't slept.

No, no, no. Never talk about your own difficulties when you lay someone off, this is one particular time when it's not about you but 100% about the person that you are laying off.

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#465

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.

Mostly blame taking.

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#467
post #420

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

This is likely something that HR would flip out about seeing in writing because being given an impossible redemption task would probably be interpreted as constructive termination in a court.

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#468

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.

His accountability comes in the form of the drop in price of the shares of the company. That is the ultimate accountability for any CEO or other shareholder.

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#469
post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_fool_theory

This has held for over a century in the case of gold, since the USD kept readjusting its peg and eventually suspending convertibility.

https://www.macrotrends.net/1333/historical-gold-prices-100-...

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#470

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we're talking Bitcoin: - Early 2014 ($1,000 -> $300) - Late 2018/Early 2018 ($19,500 -> $6,800) - April 2021 ($63,000 -> $35,000) - Nov 2021-Now ($67,000-> $22,000)

I think 'winter' implies a long period of dormancy. The 'AI winter' was like a decade long. These were normal corrections.

in each case there was a 3-4 year period of relative dormancy because the next hype cycle
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