Read the form email Coinbase sent to employment candidates to withdraw their job offers

• Coinbase said on Thursday that it was withdrawing some job offers and freezing hiring indefinitely.
• Coinbase sent the emails to affected candidates on Thursday evening.

Coinbase, one of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, sent mass emails to alert some job candidates who had already accepted job offers that the company was withdrawing those offers.

At least one recipient has slammed the missive as "unprofessional."

Coinbase's Chief People Officer L.J. Brock said in a Thursday blog post that the company was rescinding some job offers and hitting pause on hiring, citing a need to "navigate this macro environment and emerge even stronger."

Coinbase became the first crypto company to enter the Fortune 500 earlier this year with revenues of more than $7.8 billion for the fiscal year 2021, CoinDesk reported last month.

But a recent cryptocurrency slump weighed on Coinbase's fortunes. Bitcoin prices are down by more than half since peaking in November, and investors have cooled on crypto, Bloomberg reported on Thursday. As a result, the company's share price hit rock bottom in May and, after bouncing back, is still 80% from when it debuted, per the article.

The email, a copy of which was seen by Insider, was sent on Thursday evening. It was titled "Update to your Coinbase offer."

One recipient who was supposed to start with Coinbase in late June told Insider he emailed Coinbase right after reading the letter. He then received a call from a Coinbase human resources manager soon after sending his response out. The recipient asked not to be named for fear of how it would impact his future job prospects.

According to the recipient, the manager said that the company had to make a "prudent decision" to prepare for the "foreseeable future," which was why it withdrew its job offer to him.

"What do they mean by their future?" he told Insider. "Do they not see my own foreseeable future that's now uncertain?"

Coinbase promised recipients would receive two months' salary as severance pay, per the email.

It also said it would set up a "Talent Hub with resources and services" to support recipients in their "transition to new employment."

The recipient told Insider that he was angry at how impersonal Coinbase's response was.

"They told me they're going offer me training to help me find new jobs," he said. "I don't need that shit. The way they handled this, it was very unprofessional."

"I'm very bitter with how there were no details and lack of documentation over how they came to this decision," he told Insider.

Coinbase did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comments on Friday morning. It is unclear how many prospective Coinbase employees received the email.

Read the full text of the letter that Coinbase reportedly sent to those who had their job offers withdrawn (bold text reflects the emphasis in the original email).

From: Coinbase People Update <coinbaseoffers@coinbase.com>

Date: Thurs, Jun 2, 2022 at 5:50 PM

Subject: Update to your Coinbase offer

To:

Hello,

Today we shared an announcement on our blog that includes some significant updates to our hiring plans in response to rapidly changing market conditions.

I regret to inform you that as a result we have made the very difficult decision to rescind your offer of employment at Coinbase. As such, you will no longer be starting with us on your previously agreed start date.

We understand that this is a very disappointing update to receive at this stage of the process. While it's necessary to slow our headcount growth in light of the macro environment, we deeply regret the impact this has for you and for your experience with Coinbase. I want to be clear that this decision is not a reflection of our regard for your talent or the incredible contributions we believe you would have brought to our team.

As an acknowledgement of the significant inconvenience to you, and to help offset the financial impact of this decision, we are offering a severance payment of 2 months salary. We are also committing additional support via a dedicated talent hub to help provide high quality job search benefits.

Next steps

• A member of our talent team will follow up with you via email to arrange a 1:1 discussion.
• You will receive a severance agreement by the end of next week.
• We will be establishing a Talent Hub with resources and services to support your transition to new employment. These services include, but are not limited to; job placement support, resume review, interview coaching and access to our strong industry connections.

I want to thank you for the time and effort you have dedicated to Coinbase throughout our recruitment process and apologize for this disappointing outcome. We are honored that you chose Coinbase and that you see a future for yourself helping to build the next generation of crypto products. We hope to stay in contact and are eager to reach out in the future when new opportunities arise.

L.J. Brock

Chief People Officer