Coinbase CEO fires engineers over refusal to adopt AI tools, sets strict mandate

Coinbase

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has admitted to firing engineers who refused to adopt AI coding tools, even after the company purchased enterprise licences for platforms such as GitHub Copilot and Cursor. Speaking on the Cheeky Pint podcast with Stripe President John Collison, Armstrong said, “We’re leaning as hard as we can into AI.”

The company set a one-week deadline for engineers to onboard AI tools, with Armstrong personally overseeing compliance. He rejected proposals for a gradual rollout, insisting that all engineers should be onboarded immediately.

In a message posted on the company’s all-hands Slack channel, Armstrong told employees that AI adoption was mandatory: “AI’s important. We need you to all learn it and at least onboard. You don’t have to use it every day yet until we do some training, but at least onboard by the end of the week. And if not, I’m hosting a meeting on Saturday with everybody who hasn’t done it and I’d like to meet with you to understand why.”

The Saturday meeting proved decisive. While some employees cited valid reasons for delays, others did not, and those without justification were dismissed. Armstrong admitted his approach was heavy-handed but argued that it set the necessary clarity around Coinbase’s AI-first direction.

Under the mandate, Coinbase now reports that 33 percent of its code is written with AI, with a target of reaching 50 percent by the end of the current quarter. To support adoption, the company runs monthly “AI Speed Runs,” where engineers share best practices on using AI tools.

Despite the strong push, Armstrong highlighted the importance of human oversight to ensure security and accuracy in financial systems. “You don’t want people vibe coding these systems moving money. We’ve really encouraged people to code review and have the appropriate checks in place with humans in the loop,” he said.