--- title: "Crypto Exchanges Lay Off Thousands, Months After Uber-Expensive Super Bowl Ads" description: "Just a few months after spending who knows how much on Super Bowl ads, leading cryptocurrency exchanges are now laying off thousands of employees." date: "2022-06-14" modified: "2022-06-14" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/crypto-exchange-layoffs" categories: - "Blockchain" - "Cryptocurrency" - "Future Society" tags: - "bitcoin" - "coinbase" - "crypto" - "cryptocurrency" - "the blockchain" --- # Crypto Exchanges Lay Off Thousands, Months After Uber-Expensive Super Bowl Ads ![Just a few months after spending who knows how much on Super Bowl ads, leading cryptocurrency exchanges are now laying off thousands of employees.]() *\Image: Crypto.com\* Just months after spending staggering sums on lavish Super Bowl ads, leading cryptocurrency exchanges are now laying off thousands of employees amid the second crypto crash of 2022. In statements posted to company websites and on Twitter, the CEOs of exchanges like [Crypto.com]() and [Coinbase](), both of which bought [much-hyped ad spots]() during the big game this year, announced that they're laying off substantial percentages of their workforces amid crypto's precipitous downturns in May and June. [Gemini]() and [BlockFi](), which didn't buy Super Bowl ads but have also spent aggressively to woo retail investers, also announced deep cuts. While the timing of these announcements vary — Gemini [announced that it was laying off]() 10 percent of its staff on June 2, for instance, after the first of crypto's immense crashes this year but before the second — the sheer number of people affected by these firings is staggering. Coinbase alone is, as *Vice* reports, [laying off 1,100 staffers](), and didn't decide to do so until after [Bitcoin**'**s second crash](). In [his company's statement](), Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong admitted that the exchange "grew too quickly" and "overhired." Mass layoffs are bad enough news for these exchanges and crypto in general, but given that at least two of the companies cutting workforce numbers have paid for expensive ad spots and endorsements this year, it's hard to not view these developments as anything but the result of hype, greed, and poor decisionmaking. Crypto.com — which [announced just before this weekend's downturn]() that it was laying off five percent of its workforce, totaling 260 people — seems particularly guilty of placing celebrity endorsements over employee wellbeing after getting roasted for [its goofy Matt Damon ad](). "If you bought $1,000 of bitcoin the day Matt Damon's 'Fortune favors the brave!' commercial came out, it would now be worth $375," [quipped *Intercept* staffer Jon Schwarz](). https://twitter.com/schwarz/status/1536364712589500424?s=20&t=tJbCFa40qego-E2N6aGiIA Coinbase also [got its share of clowning for its Super Bowl shenanigans](), though for a decidedly different reason. Its CEO, Armstrong, took credit for the expensive (and apparently [website-crashing]()) ad spot, but was then [called out by consultants]() who said they actually *did* come up with the idea. Damon and other celebrities who have recently shilled for crypto exchanges [were silent when Bitcoin first began crashing]() last month, and if recent history serves as any precedent, they likely won't have much to say as it falls even further. This crash and the very real human toll it's taking are a reminder not only that crypto hasn't made anyone any money, but that it works the way traditional finance always has — making the rich richer, at the expense of the hoi polloi. **READ MORE:** [Coinbase Cuts Employees’ Access to Work Email, Docs Before Laying Them Off]() \[*Vice*\] **More on crypto crashes:** [*Class-Action Lawsuit Alleges Binance Misled Investors Over "Stablecoin"*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()