Why Crypto Exchange Coinbase Is Bidding Farewell To Its Chief Product Officer

Coinbase was among the crypto companies that downsized its manpower this year due to prolonged bearish market trend and recession.

It can be recalled that sometime in June, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Brian Armstrong announced via Twitter that the exchange platform would lay off 18% of its workforce to offset potential additional losses because of the broader market downturn.

As part of its global layoff plan, Coinbase also removed 8% of its employees based in India and later on rescinded new job offers it had sent out earlier.

Along this line, there are speculations about the company’s continued downsizing as one of its key officials steps down from his office.

Chief Product Officer Leaves Coinbase

In its U.S. SEC filing, the cryptocurrency exchange announced that its Chief Product Officer, former Google employee Surojit Chatterjee, will be stepping down from his post effective November 30 this year.

Chatterjee, who reportedly was given $646 million compensation package upon joining Coinbase in February 2020, will continue to serve as company advisor until February 3, 2023.

 Chief Product Officer Surojit Chatterjee. Image: Forbes

Using his Twitter account, Chatterjee said he is grateful to the whole company and that he is taking a breather. He also said he is looking forward to continue working with Armstrong and the rest of Coinbase team as advisor.

He also proudly shared on his blog post some of his accomplishments including increasing assets on the platform seven times and expanding Coinbase’s product portfolio.

Although it would appear that Chatterjee did resign from his job to take a break and process some of his personal matters like the death of his mother, some believe this might have been part of the company’s downsizing plans especially that it comes at a time when other crypto companies are doing the same.

Crypto Companies Trimming Their Workforce

In June, there were more than 1,700 layoffs that were announced by various crypto companies including Coinbase due to what was dubbed as the “crypto winter.”

Following Coinbase’s move, start-up company Blockchain.com reduced its workforce by 25% in July, cutting off 150 of its workers that were holding various roles.

Crypto.com, a fellow exchange platform of Coinbase, let 260 of its employees go. However, there were reports that the actual number might be higher as lack of international transparency made it difficult to ascertain the real number of people who lost their jobs during this time.

As it turned out, the bearish momentum that hounded the crypto market for a long time this year didn’t just affect crypto assets.

People who were working in companies that dealt with digital currencies and transactions that involved them were critically hit too, as they ended up being jobless.

Crypto total market cap at $981 billion on the daily chart | Featured image from Penlighten.com, Chart: TradingView.com