Coinbase Hits 500 Employee Mark, Shrimpy Adds Portfolio ‘Rebalancing’ to Coinbase Pro
On the heels of declaring Coinbase a âcryptocurrency companyâ instead of a tech/finance firm, Natalie McGrath, head of people and operations, revealed that the startup reached 500 employees, August 24.
On the heels of declaring Coinbase a âcryptocurrency companyâ instead of a tech/finance firm, Natalie McGrath, head of people and operations, revealed that the startup reached 500 employees, Aug. 24.
Coinbase Hits 500 Employee Mark
In a tweet, McGrath stated the company has hired more than 500 employees, indicating the fast growth of the self-stylized âGoogle of Cryptocurrenciesâ and proving to world governments that the digital asset ecosystem could create significant employment and industry for the broader economy.
Coinbase hit 500 employees this week! Holy moly. So proud, thankful and appreciative to work with this amazing team. If youâre not here – join us! https://t.co/vGp7fQpKRu pic.twitter.com/wZUPyPsaiw
— Nathalie McGrath (@NathalieMcGrath) August 24, 2018
On the same day, CEO Brian Armstrong shared an email with employees about Coinbaseâs segmentation in the startup world, reportedly after being posed the question.
Armstrong laid out his reasoning in a detailed post, stating the company prides itself in product creation, has a dedicated engineering team and features a knowledgeable legal and compliance team.
The aforementioned fixtures, according to Armstrong, make Coinbase a technology company âdriving a ton of innovation and growth in the world today.â However, the CEO concluded by stating the firm fits in the newly-developed âcryptoâ category instead of a âfintechâ organization.
Armstrong further elaborated:
âWeâre not satisfied with the limitations of either technology or finance industries. We donât want to move fast and break thingsâââthat doesnât work when youâre handling peopleâs money. We also donât want to become so conservative that more risk-tolerant organizations outrun us.â
Plunging Trading Volumes
Despite its rise to relevance, 2018âs prolonged bear market has caused Coinbase’s trading volumes to plunge substantially.
According to a report by research firm Diar, the San Francisco-based exchange has experienced an 83 percent decline in daily trading volume since January 2018. The report further calculated the company’s value at 3.9 billion dollars in July, compared to over $21 billion in January.
Crypto-exchanges like Bitstamp and Kraken have seen similar drops in fortune, with trading volumes decreasing over 40 percent. However, Malta-based Binance continues to enjoy its stronghold over the global cryptocurrency market. The Changpeng Zhao-led exchange registered $17.5 billion in trades last February, dropping to $9.4 billion dollars in June.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong-based OKEx experienced a rather uncanny increase in volume throughout June and July, with trading volume increasing from $2.8 billion to $2.9 billion.
Portfolio ‘Rebalancing’ Comes to Coinbase
Additionally, portfolio rebalancing application Shrimpy has added support for Coinbase Pro according to an official blog post. The support will be specific to Coinbase Pro and will aim to “rebalance” the portfolios of both retail and institutional investors once a year.

A traditional market strategy, rebalancing involves tracking an assetâs performance over a particular period and increasing oneâs investment, divesting and distributing profits to other portfolio holds. As reported by CryptoSlate, the strategy is proven to triumph over merely holding oneâs investment over an extended period.
Coinbase Pro customers can also now rebalance their portfolios across four other crypto exchanges and 100-plus different cryptocurrencies.