Coinbase has seen their stock price plummet by 80% in the last 6 months. For comparison, the NASDAQ is down 25% and the Russell 3000 is down 16% over that same period. In other words, Coinbase has performed much worse than most other equities.

This decline in stock price was exacerbated by the recent crash in crypto prices and a large net income loss in Coinbase's most recent quarterly results.

All of this to say, investors' confidence in Coinbase has been absolutely rattled. An announcement of a hiring slowdown/freeze or layoffs could accelerate the Coinbase sell off if it is misinterpreted as evidence of a meltdown of the business. So Coinbase is trying to get out in front of and own the message around their change in hiring patterns. "We are acting as good stewards of your investment, and no reason to panic."

This post surely addresses many stakeholder groups, but investors seem to be the primary constituency that is being reassured.

If crypto is mostly a "get rich quick" scheme and shortcut to riches plummeting prices will cool down the hype fast. There's no such thing as a money printing machine that doesn't backfire.

It's not a get rich quick scheme, it's a Ponzi scheme. o Once you can't convince new suckers to buy in the system collapses and the one left holding the bag loses everything.

if that's a ponzi scheme then so is the USD.

The USD has intrinsic value - the US government insists on receiveing its taxes in USD, and only in USD. This alone creates trillions of dollars per year of real demand for USD. Crypto doesn't have anything like it.

The point is for outside investors to ensure them that money is well spent and the company is on path to success. Common for public companies to do this.

For those depending on investor money to survive, aka the cash-flow-after-funding crowd. For others not so much, those only communicate head count reductions most of the time.

Possibly because they think investors need to know about it - since they are a publicly-traded company - and want to avoid running afoul of SEC regulations. (Note: I am not a securities lawyer; this is admittedly a guess.)

A blog post to not run afoul of SEC regulations? I don't think so..they could easily bring this up at earnings.

Earnings only happen quarterly. There's lots of events that need to be communicated more urgently than that. And there's no way you could keep a lid on something like this for up to potentially 90 days. People (internally and externally) are going to notice that no one is being hired there anymore.

And it's worth pointing out that large companies are constantly posting disclosures, sometimes as frequently as daily. Here's one example (Google): https://sec.report/Ticker/GOOG

The bar for disclosure is quite low, and is not dependent on quarterly cycles.

I’m not a securities lawyer but I can imagine that some material information might need to be disclosed immediately. I’d love a more knowledgeable person to chime in.

Coinbase did make an SEC filing copy of the blog post: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001679788/000110465...

> On May 16, 2022, Coinbase Global, Inc. (“Coinbase” or the “Company”) issued a blog post (the “Blog Post”) relating to its hiring plans. In connection with the Blog Post, Coinbase affirmed its expense outlook for the second quarter of 2022 and full year 2022 that the Company provided on May 10, 2022 in a letter to its shareholders announcing its financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2022. A copy of the Blog Post is furnished as Exhibit 99.1 to this Current Report on Form 8-K.

> Coinbase announces material information to its investors using filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Company’s website at www.coinbase.com and blog.coinbase.com, as well as press releases, public conference calls, public webcasts, its Twitter feed (@coinbase), its Facebook page, its LinkedIn page, its YouTube channel, and Brian Armstrong’s Twitter feed (@brian_armstrong). Therefore, Coinbase encourages investors, the media and others interested in the Company to review the information it makes public in these locations, as such information could be deemed to be material information.

> The information in Item 7.01 of this Current Report on Form 8-K, including Exhibit 99.1, is being furnished and shall not be deemed “filed” for the purposes of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), or otherwise subject to the liability of such section or incorporated by reference in any filing under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Exchange Act, except as shall be expressly set forth by specific reference in such a filing.

So whether or not they were required to communicate the slowdown, they did at least consider the post to be material information that needed to be communicated with investors.

If someone employed there wants to trade then they have to announce or risk insider trading. When the trade can’t wait until the usual information release then you will see sudden announcements like this.

Nice, they covered their ass

I think they are trying to get the price of crypto to drop.... to be able to buy back .... I dropped Coinbase long ago, they manipulate the market too much (I.E.: You can't sell if price drastically go up, etc)

They know it'll leak, so being public minimizes damage.