The largest US cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has announced that it will permanently close its offices in San Francisco.
The company – founded in June 2012 by former Airbnb engineer Brian Armstrong – has made a rapid climb to the forefront of the burgeoning crypto industry, though its practices have sometimes also sparked controversy.
Data unearthed by the New York Times last year showed that women at Coinbase in comparable jobs and ranks within the company were paid an average of 8% less than men, and black workers 7% less than those in similar positions.
The company received internal backlash last summer after CEO Armstrong refused to comment on the racial justice movement by spearheading Coinbase’s mission of “economic freedom” and its “apolitical” culture.
Despite these issues, the company is now a household name with around 56 million users trading cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum through the app. The company went public in April of that year, opening at $ 381.
But like cryptocurrency itself, Coinbase’s 1,200 employees are now decentralizing, and the company will no longer have any physical headquarters at all.
The announcement on Twitter Wednesday that the company’s Market Street offices will be closing next year came as no shock. A year ago Armstrong announced that the company would be “Remote First” and not have a specific headquarters.
Coinbase strives to be remote first. We have announced that we no longer have a HQ and the next step is to close our SF office (our former HQ) in 2022.
– Coinbase News (@CoinbaseNews) May 5, 2021
Coinbase says they will be offering some smaller offices elsewhere instead, but did not disclose details. “Closing our SF office is an important step in ensuring that no office becomes unofficial headquarters and means that career results are based on skills and accomplishments rather than location,” the company said in a statement. “Instead, we will offer our employees a network of smaller offices where they can work if they so choose.”
