Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has reduced its workforce by 18%.

After initially delaying hiring, Coinbase announced plans to cut its workforce by 18 percent. It cited an impending economic downturn as the reason.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong revealed that he has made the “tough decision” to cut the size of the Coinbase staff. He also mentioned that trading revenue has decreased dramatically during previous crypto winters, saying that Coinbase has weathered four big crypto winters since its inception in 2012.

Armstrong stated that the company has been growing too quickly, with Coinbase employing 1,250 people as of early 2021. The team has grown fourfold in the last 18 months. And their employee expenditures are “too high to efficiently handle this volatile industry.

All retiring employees would be assisted in finding new jobs. Press release mentioned it. Armstrong rushed to Twitter on Friday to condemn Coinbase employees for circulating a public petition calling for the removal of some senior Coinbase executives in a vote of no confidence. Coinbase’s leadership team has been making decisions that are “not in the best interests of the company, employees, and shareholders. This is what the petition claimed. The petitioners claimed that the judgments resulted in the failure of the Coinbase NFT platform.

Coinbase is reducing its workforce as Bitcoin falls to two-year lows around $21,000. In May, Coinbase said that it will slow down hiring and examine its personnel to guarantee that it could continue to operate as planned. Coinbase joins a growing list of companies that have had to eliminate workers due to the current bear market. On Saturday, Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek announced on Twitter that the Singapore-based exchange would lay off 260 employees, or 5% of its staff.

Despite the fact that some crypto companies are shrinking their employees. Binance, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, is still hiring.