<p>Digital currency exchange Coinbase said Tuesday it will lay off 18 percent of staff, citing tight economic conditions and overly rapid expansion as the cryptocurrency market tumbles.</p>.<p>The Coinbase layoffs correspond to about 1,100 positions, the platform said in a stock exchange filing.</p>.<p>This "difficult decision" was made "to ensure we stay healthy during this economic downturn," CEO and co-founder Brian Armstrong said in a statement.</p>.<p>"We appear to be entering a recession after a 10+ year economic boom."</p>.<p>Bitcoin sank Monday to an 18-month low under $23,000 amid a broad cryptocurrency crash, as investors shunned risky assets in the face of a vicious global markets selloff, just seven months after the virtual unit surged to a record high.</p>.<p>With stock markets struggling since the beginning of the year and inflation at a four-decade high, tighter monetary policy across the globe has helped to send the crypto industry plummeting.</p>.<p>Coinbase, a platform that allows users to buy and sell cryptocurrency, had already warned in mid-May that its number of active users was falling. The group posted a net loss of $430 million in the first quarter of 2022.</p>.<p>The company believes "managing our costs is critical" while the market experiences a downturn, Armstrong said, noting the company has already weathered several periods of decline in cryptocurrency value.</p>.<p>But this time around, "we grew too quickly," he said. Coinbase went from 1,250 employees at the start of 2021 to more than 6,000 currently.</p>.<p>The platform did not change its forecasts for the year but warned that its results would probably be at the bottom of the range of predictions.</p>.<p>Coinbase stock was down 6.2 percent in pre-market trading after already falling 11.4 percent on Monday.</p>.<p>The US tech sector is in a period of high volatility, with many start-ups announcing layoffs, while giants such as Facebook, Amazon and Uber have warned they are slowing the pace of recruitment.</p>
<p>Digital currency exchange Coinbase said Tuesday it will lay off 18 percent of staff, citing tight economic conditions and overly rapid expansion as the cryptocurrency market tumbles.</p>.<p>The Coinbase layoffs correspond to about 1,100 positions, the platform said in a stock exchange filing.</p>.<p>This "difficult decision" was made "to ensure we stay healthy during this economic downturn," CEO and co-founder Brian Armstrong said in a statement.</p>.<p>"We appear to be entering a recession after a 10+ year economic boom."</p>.<p>Bitcoin sank Monday to an 18-month low under $23,000 amid a broad cryptocurrency crash, as investors shunned risky assets in the face of a vicious global markets selloff, just seven months after the virtual unit surged to a record high.</p>.<p>With stock markets struggling since the beginning of the year and inflation at a four-decade high, tighter monetary policy across the globe has helped to send the crypto industry plummeting.</p>.<p>Coinbase, a platform that allows users to buy and sell cryptocurrency, had already warned in mid-May that its number of active users was falling. The group posted a net loss of $430 million in the first quarter of 2022.</p>.<p>The company believes "managing our costs is critical" while the market experiences a downturn, Armstrong said, noting the company has already weathered several periods of decline in cryptocurrency value.</p>.<p>But this time around, "we grew too quickly," he said. Coinbase went from 1,250 employees at the start of 2021 to more than 6,000 currently.</p>.<p>The platform did not change its forecasts for the year but warned that its results would probably be at the bottom of the range of predictions.</p>.<p>Coinbase stock was down 6.2 percent in pre-market trading after already falling 11.4 percent on Monday.</p>.<p>The US tech sector is in a period of high volatility, with many start-ups announcing layoffs, while giants such as Facebook, Amazon and Uber have warned they are slowing the pace of recruitment.</p>