Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong is pushing for a massive restructuring to prepare for the era of artificial intelligence, deciding to cut approximately 14% of its workforce – equivalent to nearly 700 people based on the company's most recent employee count. This move comes as the crypto market hasn't fully recovered, but according to Armstrong, the more important factor is changing the operating model to bring Coinbase back to its high-speed, AI-centric "startup" spirit.
In his latest Chia , Armstrong emphasized that the layoffs were not only aimed at saving costs but were also a strategic move to restructure the entire organization. Coinbase is eliminating the middle management layer, which he calls “pure managers”—those who only manage without directly creating product value—and replacing them with a “player-coach” model. This type of leadership involves managing a team while also directly participating in product development, writing code, or contributing expertise. According to Armstrong, this flat management model will help reduce the “coordination tax,” increase decision-making speed, and bring products to market faster.
Another notable change is the formation of “AI-native pods”—workgroups designed from the ground up around AI. Coinbase even envisions a future where “one-person teams” could emerge, where an individual coordinates AI agents to perform the work of engineers, designers, and product managers. Armstrong describes the long-term goal as rebuilding Coinbase as an “intelligent system,” where humans play a guiding and supervisory Vai .
Following the cuts, Coinbase's leadership structure will be streamlined to a maximum of five levels below the CEO. According to Armstrong, reducing the number of management levels is key to increasing efficiency, because the more levels there are, the slower the pace and the greater the coordination costs.
In fact, Coinbase has been pursuing an AI strategy for many years. Armstrong once licensed GitHub Copilot and Cursor to the entire engineering team and required them to implement it within a week. Those who failed to meet the deadline were forced to leave the company. Armstrong said that over the past year, he has seen a significant increase in engineer productivity as AI helped complete tasks in just a few days instead of weeks. Not only the engineering team, but many non-technical employees have also started writing code using AI, and many internal processes have been automated.
The wave of restructuring for AI isn't unique to Coinbase. Major tech companies like Block and Snap Inc. have also cut thousands of jobs for similar reasons. However, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has warned about the phenomenon of "AI washing"—where some businesses use AI as a justification for layoffs that were originally caused by other factors.
