Coinbase freezes hiring and rescinds accepted job offers - The Verge
As the cryptocurrency market falters, Coinbase is putting a pause on hiring indefinitely, and is also rescinding some job offers already accepted by prospective employees.
Coinbase is pulling back on its hiring efforts. In a memo posted to Coinbase’s site, chief people officer L.J. Brock announced that Coinbase is putting a pause on hiring new employees, as well as rescinding several job offers already accepted by prospective workers, citing “current market conditions and ongoing business prioritization efforts.”
The shift comes as the cryptocurrency market continues to trend downwards, dragging the supposedly immovable stablecoins, which are pegged to a fiat currency or commodity, with it. Coinbase started to slow hiring in mid-May to make sure the company is “best positioned to succeed during and after the current downturn,” but this move halts hiring completely. Brock notes that the freeze will also affect backfills, or the employees hired to replace workers leaving the company. It excludes those hired to fill roles in “security and compliance,” however.
Coinbase is also contending with a lackluster response to the social NFT marketplace it launched widely in May. According to data from Dune Analytics viewed by The Motley Fool, 4,132 people purchased an NFT on the platform within 19 days of its launch, and gross sales amounted to $875,000, or an average of $46,000 per day. It doesn’t help that NFT sales are declining as a whole, dipping to about 19,000 sales per week at the beginning of May, as opposed to the 225,000 NFT sales made in September.
It’s unclear how many job offers Coinbase rescinded, and the company didn’t immediately reply to The Verge’s request for comment. Brock says affected individuals will benefit from Coinbase’s “generous severance policy” and will gain access to a talent hub with various career resources, including interview coaching, resume review, and networking opportunities.
The changeup at Coinbase has left some prospective employees struggling. At least two individuals set to be hired by Coinbase say they may lose their OPT (Optional Practical Training) Visa due to the rescinded offer. Others say they received an email reassuring them that they won’t lose their newly-accepted job due to the company’s hiring slowdown, only to receive an impersonal email notifying them of a rescinded offer weeks later.
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