Coinbase’s decision to withdraw job offers brings a rude shock, uncertainty for many Indians

Coinbase said on June 3 that it plans to extend its hiring freeze and rescind a few offers.

Tired of the toxic work culture at a multinational company’s Bengaluru office where he had been working for over a year and a half, Rajat Kapur (name changed) was looking forward to a change of scene that his new job at cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase offered. The job was remote work and Kapur was planning on starting a new journey by moving out of India while he would continue to work for Coinbase’s India operations.

The third-largest exchange in terms of volumes, Coinbase has over 50 percent of overall crypto investors on its platform.

Kapur was set to join the US crypto exchange on June 13 when news came that the company was reconsidering its hiring plans and could also withdraw some offers that had already been extended. His first response was to check with the hiring manager he was in touch with on whether his offer still stood.

Kapur received a positive response and was told that his joining date remained unchanged. And later came a mail that said that his offer had been withdrawn.

“Their team in India was unaware of how many and which offers will be withdrawn. I shared the mail with the hiring manager after which he checked with his team. The mails were sent directly from the US team,” Kapur told Moneycontrol.

Like Kapur, many Indians here and in the US were left stranded after Coinbase’s sudden decision to not just go slow on hiring but also withdraw multiple offers.

Moneycontrol reached out to Coinbase for a comment but the company did not respond to queries.

The announcement was made on June 3 in a blog post by chief people officer LK Brock on the company’s website.

Taking a call to cut costs after a tough quarter, Brock said in the blog, “We will also rescind a number of outstanding offers for people who have not started yet. This is not a decision we make lightly, but is necessary to ensure we are only growing in the highest-priority areas.”

The company said that those affected will be eligible for the company’s severance policy. Coinbase is also establishing a talent hub to allow them to opt in to receive additional support services including job placement support, resume review, interview coaching and access to industry connections.

However, some of those whose offers were withdrawn said on condition of anonymity that the company is yet to offer any assistance and may begin extending support starting June 7.

In such a scenario, many like Kapur are taking to LinkedIn to tell their story and seek new job offers. Since the announcement, many startups and tech companies have reached out to those affected by this move and have extended interview opportunities.

Plans fall apart

For many Indians based in the US, a last-minute job offer withdrawal risks them losing their visa if they are unable to secure a job before the visa expires. Indians and other immigrants spend lakhs on their education in the US and most opt for loans to pay the hefty fees and only a job in the US can be viable for repaying these loans.

Until the beginning of this year, securing a tech job was not a challenge as the industry was booming and salaries skyrocketing amid a talent war. In such a scenario, offers being withdrawn is a rude shock to many dollar dreams.

Ashutosh Ukey, a graduate from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, is one of those and his post on LinkedIn struck a chord with many. Ukey was considering either doing a PhD from the same university or starting a new job when he got a response from Coinbase. Finally, he chose Coinbase and declined three PhD offers before he was informed that his job at Coinbase did not stand anymore.

His post on LinkedIn read, “This was devastating to me as I was going to start on a STEM OPT VISA and I am only allowed a certain number of days on unemployment. After having planned so much of the next stage of my life, seeing it fall apart so quickly was heartbreaking. If anyone knows openings for entry-level Software Engineering roles (that can sponsor F1 students), your help would be very much appreciated in these trying times.”

The Optional Practical Training visa gives a 12-month work permit to international students; however, STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) students can extend this by a further 24 months.

In a response on LinkedIn, Ukey told Moneycontrol that he has 90 days to find a job, the duration allowed if the visa holder is unemployed.

Like Ukey, Shubham Mehta (name changed) too declined a postgraduate course admission that he had secured after he received Coinbase’s offer. However, since Mehta is a US citizen, he does not have the threat of a visa cancellation hanging over his head.

“I was in touch with Coinbase since December 2021. I decided to defer my studying plans after getting the offer. I have posted on LinkedIn, I will follow those leads. I guess that’s the best I can do,” Mehta said. “I am going to check if I can get my Master’s offer reopened, but I doubt that will happen.”

All applicants to Coinbase who were offered jobs there and who once had a secure option already in hand—either an existing job or a university admission—that they gave up are now back in the job market with a lot more uncertainty.

Ashish Pande (name changed) said, “I had planned to begin work in July, but the sudden change has pushed me to look out for jobs again. This involves reaching out to past recruiters, sourcing my LinkedIn network, and brushing up on coding fundamentals for interviews. Overall, it is a bit hectic but I am optimistic for what is to come.”

Drastic shift in hiring strategy

At the beginning of this year, Coinbase had announced its plans to hire 2,000 people across product, engineering and design in 2022. For its India foray, the company had announced a target of hiring 1,000 employees in the country.

Trouble started for Coinbase and the crypto world as global macro factors began falling apart starting with the Russia-Ukraine war, which led to a steep fall in the stock markets with tech stocks being the worst hit. This was followed by a crash in the crypto markets, and experts expect this downcycle to stay for some time.

Since January 2022, Coinbase’s stock has fallen by over 71 percent. In the first quarter of 2022, the January to March quarter, the company’s revenues fell 27 percent over the same quarter of 2021.

For the first time since its listing, expenses at $1.72 billion exceeded revenues at $1.17 billion. Hence it was decided that it was time to cut costs.

“It’s not just Coinbase, all exchanges are going through a tough time with liquidity sucked out of the markets. We have also seen a drastic drop in ad spends by Indian exchanges as well since the market crashed,” said Siddharth Sogani, founder and CEO of crypto research firm CREBACO.

Coinbase has not clarified on its planned app that was to begin operations in India and by how much the hiring numbers will change for the country in this new state of affairs.

Sogani added, “From March until now, trading volumes (in crypto) have dropped by a massive 90 percent in India. If Coinbase enters India in such a scenario, it will be like jumping in a well. So they won’t do it now. They would like to enter a market which is a lot more clear in terms of regulations and user awareness.”