Web 3.0 Walmart - Security Coinbase Employee Review

2.0
Sep 8, 2022
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

People are (were) excited and young. Offices are nice. Pretty standard tech benefits if you are one of the people CB hires fully. Note: It is not uncommon to start as Independent Contractors with much lower pay so CB saves on taxes, before hiring fully on to their same team with same workload but then with a normal SF/NYC salary.

Cons

Where to start.. Let's try chronological the last year or so: Last Summer: crypto was swelling and company was ideating lots of new expansion. Covid policies were solid and executed well, and remote work was going great. Everyone was pretty optimistic. CB still seemed innovative. Last Fall: expansion frenzy begins (excessive hiring). NFT initiatives and other business units popping up like crazy ahead of new year. Execs spend tons and tons on travel, lobbying, and M&As. Everyone is struggling to keep up with break-neck scaling. Some burnout, but just a push to EOY right? Winter/Spring 22: People start getting coerced to come in to offices and offsites. Most of these become Covid spreader events. Especially after Omicron. But CB does them more and more anyways. Initiatives from Fall start falling short and people start winging things beyond procedures/plans to deliver something. Summer (recently): Covid rules get thrown out the window and simplified to "you don't need to be vaccinated but if you feel sick just don't come to work". They only are making you test negative and be vaxx'd for offsites and travel since other countries largely require these. Employees brace for months of offsites at "the most convenient office for most important teams" which is just really everyone rotating into the SF office to work at a big table together with their team and "collaborate". Also the 20% layoffs. Also no meals in offices. Also the "postponement" of intern return offers. Also huge spends on unnecessary Exec privileges while not paying multiple vendors, contracts, etc. for months (maybe a few million worth at this rate). Also the performance/top performer bonuses and promos to try keeping some around through EOY or maybe to make others who didn't receive them dissatisfied enough to quit before CB has to do more layoffs. CB is no longer the innovator in crypto they think they are but instead the most basic US provider who can barely keep that chugging along or fix their People Ops.

Explore other reviews about Coinbase

5.0
May 13, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The people are amazing. Some of the smartest I've met and yet also the best to work with. I learned so much from working here.

Cons

High intensity of work (but you also get good rest). Work hard, play hard. Upper management has been making worrying decisions with AI (eg all in with too little of a plan or oversight).

1
4.0
Aug 6, 2021
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- Very interesting technical challenges - A LOT of autonomy (could be a con) - Amazing perks (WFH stipend, random gifts all the time) - Very smart colleagues - Great communication all around the company - Exciting - Brilliant CEO and engineering execs - A lot of useful education and automation regarding processes

Cons

- There is a lot of autonomy so if you're the kind of person who needs the work to be handed to you, you'll have to adjust - Since crypto is a very fast paced field, you will often have multiple projects on the go at the same time so work-life balance is usually relatively bad, although the company does offer re-charge days (and weeks) so that we can all take time off. - This is the biggest con: you get assessed if you're "on-track" or "off-track" every quarter, if you're "off-track", you have 60 days to fix it. Quite an aggressive stance, similar to Amazon's PIP program which is notoriously toxic.

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