Coinbase, the cryptocurrency exchange platform, is to cut 950 jobs, about 20% of its global workforce.

The company has announced the third round of layoffs in a year as part of a restructuring plan.

The move follows the sharp downfall in the value of cryptocurrency and has been blamed on that as well as the slowing global economy.

The company chief executive and co-founder said the impact of bad actors in the industry had also hit Coinbase.

“In 2022, the crypto market trended downwards along with the broader macroeconomy. We also saw the fallout from unscrupulous actors in the industry, and there could still be further contagion,” Brian Armstrong said in a blog post on the company website.

Another cryptocurrency exchange, FTX, filed for bankruptcy, and its founder Sam Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to stealing billions of dollars of customer money.

The company’s fall has led to calls for tougher regulatory oversight.

Gillian Keegan’s Twitter account changes picture to Elon Musk and promotes crypto in apparent hack

Disgraced ‘crypto king’ Sam Bankman-Fried released on $250m bail – the biggest in pretrial history

Does the extradition of one crypto’s highest-profile players mean digital currencies are fundamentally unsound?

FTX was not the only one to face hurdles, as crypto values fell over the year key players in the industry such as Three Arrows Capital and Celsius Network were toppled.

Read more

What is the main aim of cryptocurrency?

Costs of about $149m (£122.62m) to $163m (£134.14m) are to result from the company reordering, Coinbase said.

But Mr Armstrong was adamant his company and crypto are going nowhere.

“Coinbase is well capitalized, and crypto isn’t going anywhere. In fact, I believe recent events will ultimately end up benefiting Coinbase greatly,” his blog post said.

It is the third time in a year that jobs have been axed.

In November it cut more than 60 jobs in its recruiting and institutional onboarding teams and slashed 1,100 jobs, equivalent to 18% of its workforce back in June.

Mr Armstrong said he could have cut more jobs at the time.

Some business areas will be closed and others will operate with fewer workers as part of the headcount reduction.

“We will be shutting down several projects where we have a lower probability of success. Affected teams will receive communication on this today,” Mr Armstrong said.

“Our other projects will continue to operate as normal, just with fewer people on the team.”

Related posts:

New prototype face mask can detect COVID-19 infection Mysterious methane detections on Mars baffle NASA scientists NASA’s Deep Space Atomic Clock ’10 times more stable’ than existing space clocks Woman, 82, gets chance to go into space 60 years after missing out due to her gender International Space Station knocked out of position as new Russian science lab malfunctions Apple delays launch of controversial child safety features Polar bear inbreeding increasing as Arctic sea ice melts Driverless car starts to pull away after being stopped by police Sending man back to the moon – what you need to know about NASA’s historic mission Crackdown needed to stop children buying vapes, experts warn Some Twitter users will now be able to edit their tweets Asteroid has 6,000-mile debris tail after deliberate impact by NASA spacecraft