Coinbase Shares Drop After Users React to Code-Shipping News

Coinbase shares fell nearly 5% on Tuesday after the company acknowledged that non-technical employees are shipping production code. The stock traded around $196.21 after the market opened as customers reacted to the disclosure.

In a company message about automation and workflow changes, CEO Brian Armstrong said engineers are using AI to speed work and that some non-engineering teams are delivering code. He wrote: “It goes without saying that all AI generated code has rigorous human reviews. No one is vibe coding directly to production. We’re increasing speed of shipping and innovation, while continuing to raise the bar on security.”

Customers posted objections on social media and some threatened to move funds off the exchange. One account holder wrote the update “further cements” a decision to keep little on Coinbase and referenced the phrase “not your keys, not your coins.” Another wrote: “Non-technical teams are now shipping production code — genuinely terrifying lol, already had my data leaked enough before this.”

The reaction revived memories of a May 2025 breach that affected 69,461 customers, equal to less than 1% of monthly active users at the time. Coinbase reported cybercriminals bribed overseas customer support contractors connected to an outsourcing firm to access internal support tools. Exposed information included names, emails, phone numbers, home addresses, dates of birth, masked Social Security numbers, masked bank account numbers, government ID images and account balances. Coinbase reported that passwords, private keys and funds were not compromised and that Prime accounts were unaffected.

After the 2025 incident, Coinbase refused a $20 million ransom demand, disclosed the breach publicly and offered a matching bounty for information leading to arrests. The company estimated remediation costs could reach up to $400 million and faced multiple class-action lawsuits.

Coinbase has said human reviewers screen AI-produced code and that standard testing remains in place. Customers requested clearer explanations of data handling and stronger safeguards for personally identifiable information.