Coinbase cuts 14% of staff, flattens hierarchy, adopts AI pods

Coinbase announced May 5 it will reduce its workforce by about 14%—roughly 700 employees-and collapse its management hierarchy to no more than five reporting layers below the CEO and chief operating officer. The company plans to reorganize teams into smaller groups built around artificial intelligence.

Brian Armstrong outlined the changes in an internal email posted on X. He tied the reductions to softer recent quarterly results and the broader crypto cycle, and he cited faster engineering cycles and wider use of AI in development as reasons for reorganizing how work is delivered.

Under the new structure, senior leaders are expected to manage 15 or more direct reports while continuing to contribute as individual contributors. Some groups will be formed as “AI-native pods” focused on staff who can manage fleets of software agents. Other experimental teams will combine engineering, design and product responsibilities into single roles.

Armstrong has pushed AI across Coinbase’s product set. He previously wrote that roughly 40% of daily code at the company is generated with AI and set a target to exceed 50% by October. Coinbase has also developed agent-friendly tools for on-chain transactions.

Affected U.S. employees will receive at least 16 weeks of base pay plus two additional weeks for each year of service, according to company communications. The package includes the next scheduled equity vesting and six months of COBRA health coverage, following the severance framework used in prior reductions.

Coinbase filed a mandatory disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission covering material restructuring events. The company stated it remains well-capitalized while implementing the new structure.

The changes take effect immediately as the company adjusts reporting lines and team responsibilities before the next earnings period. In his email Armstrong wrote, “Today I’ve made the difficult decision to reduce the size of Coinbase by ~14%.”