NEW YORK – Coinbase Global said it was eliminating 60 positions, the latest in a series of job cuts by the exchange as the months-long slump in cryptocurrencies deepens. 

The largest United States digital asset trading platform plans to reduce its recruiting and institutional onboarding groups, according to a statement on Thursday. 

“Today’s actions were surgical. We are just making sure we are not wasting a dollar,” Coinbase’s chief financial officer Alesia Haas told Bloomberg TV. “If we see that there is going to be further depressed revenue, and if we believe this is going to impact beyond the scenarios we have already planned for, we will have to take further cost-saving action.”

Crypto companies have been forced to downsize amid a rout that has erased more than US$2 trillion (S$2.77 trillion) in market value. 

In June, Coinbase announced it would lay off 18 per cent of its workforce, the equivalent of roughly 1,200 employees. In November, billionaire Michael Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital Holdings said it is exploring eliminating as much as 20 per cent of its workforce. Also over the past month, Mythical Games, a blockchain video game company once valued at US$1.25 billion, laid off 10 per cent of its staff. 

Mr Elliott Suthers, Coinbase’s director of corporate and global communications, wrote that the company will offer “generous severance packages for those affected”.

Shares of Coinbase rose about 11 per cent on Thursday, helping to temper a slide of more than 20 per cent earlier this week. The stock is down 80 per cent in 2022. REUTERS