Coinbase is shuttering its Chicago office less than a year after the cryptocurrency startup announced big plans for its Windy City expansion.
Coinbase confirmed to Chicago Inno that it's eliminating its Chicago engineering office, which was designed to work on a “matching engine” aimed at high-frequency trading. Around 30 employees have been laid off in the process.
The company said it will consolidate its matching engine efforts into its San Francisco office and will relocate some of those Chicago workers to the Bay Area. It will also have some remaining Chicago employees that will work remotely.
"We’re incredibly grateful to the Chicago matching engine team for their contributions to Coinbase and have benefited from their unique perspectives and skill sets," the company said in a provided statement. "Coinbase moves quickly to build new products and offerings to meet the rapidly evolving crypto ecosystem. We’re proud of our speed of execution. We are a culture that is committed to repeatable innovation, knowing full well that not everything we attempt will succeed."
Coinbase had ambitious plans for its Chicago office when it announced details for the space last year. It planned to hire 100 workers over three years, the majority of which were expected to be engineers. The office was led by Paul Bauerschmidt, a longtime CME Group executive, and Derek Groothius, a previous software engineer at DRW. Both are leaving the company.
The office closing comes at a tumultuous time for the cryptocurrency space, with bitcoin's value now at less than $6,000, down from its height of nearly $20,000 in late 2017. Though its price has recovered somewhat in recent months.
Coinbase said it's still growing its team overall, adding people for its Coinbase Pro, Coinbase Custody and OTC trading desk products.
