Coinbase is cutting staff globally and hiring in Singapore at the same time. That is the story: the exchange is putting people where the rulebook is already usable.
Brian Armstrong's exchange has become a study in contrasts. In May 2026, Coinbase said it would cut about 14% of its workforce, roughly 700 jobs, as it tried to lower costs in a weaker crypto market and reorganise around AI. TechCrunch reported that the company expected $50 million to $60 million in severance costs. Then, on July 22, Coinbase opened a new Singapore office and said it would grow its local headcount from about 150 to about 200 by the end of 2026.
The contrast is not cosmetic. It tells you where Coinbase thinks regulated crypto demand is still worth hiring for.
According to The Business Times, the new office is at One Raffles Quay, a 10,000 sq ft space that replaces Coinbase's previous WeWork premises in Collyer Quay. Hassan Ahmed, Coinbase's Singapore country director, said the hiring will be concentrated in engineering, customer service, relationship management and institutional sales. That last category matters. Coinbase isn't just adding support staff in Singapore. It's adding the people who sit closest to banks, funds, family offices and companies that need a regulated way into digital assets.
Singapore has the cleaner rulebook
Look at the address. One Raffles Quay sits in the middle of Singapore's financial district, and the move lands nearly three years after Coinbase Singapore received its full Major Payment Institution licence from the Monetary Authority of Singapore in October 2023. The MAS Financial Institutions Directory showed 38 Major Payment Institutions authorised for digital payment token services as of July 22, 2026. That number matters because a licence is not just a badge. For a corporate treasury team or a bank counterparty, it is the first filter before any serious conversation starts.
Hong Kong is moving too, but it is still filling in parts of the framework. Its Stablecoins Ordinance came into force in August 2025, and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority granted stablecoin issuer licences to two entities in April 2026. The SFC and Hong Kong's Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau also published consultation conclusions on virtual asset advisory and management regimes in May 2026, with a bill planned for the Legislative Council this year. Dubai has its own VARA regime, with activity-specific licences for exchanges, custody, broker-dealer services and other virtual asset work. Fine. But Coinbase's hiring decision says something plain: for this slice of institutional crypto in Asia, Singapore is the place where the company wants more people now.
Coinbase has already been building products around that bet. Its Singapore offerings include retail trading, staking and support for XSGD, the Singapore dollar-backed stablecoin issued by StraitsX and backed by reserve assets held at DBS Bank and Standard Chartered Bank, according to The Business Times. Coinbase Business is also available to companies in the US and Singapore. Odaily reported in November 2025 that Armstrong said more than 100 companies and family offices had registered within days of the Singapore launch, with some still waiting to be processed. Don't overcomplicate that. If companies are joining the queue, you hire relationship managers.
The revenue line explains why Coinbase cares. In its Q1 2026 results, Coinbase reported $305 million in stablecoin revenue and said average USDC held in Coinbase products reached about $19 billion, more than 25% of total USDC in circulation. Stablecoins are not a side project for the exchange anymore. They are one of the cleaner ways Coinbase can make money when spot trading slows, and Singapore gives that business a place to speak to institutions without first arguing about whether the rules exist.
Washington is still a moving target
The US picture is better than it was, but it isn't settled. The Wall Street Journal reported that Coinbase shares rose 9.6% on July 21 after progress on the CLARITY Act, while Barron's put the move at about 11% after the White House and Republican senators reached an agreement on an ethics provision tied to the bill. The legislation has already passed the House, but it still needs Senate support, including enough Democrats to clear the 60-vote threshold.
That is not certainty. Prediction market trackers showed Polymarket odds for the CLARITY Act being signed into law in 2026 at about 38% on July 23, down from the high 40s a day earlier. You can trade that probability. You can't build a hiring plan on it.
This is why the Singapore expansion matters beyond one office opening. Coinbase is cutting roles where it wants fewer layers and more AI-driven efficiency, while adding people in a market where the regulatory work is already done enough to sell into. Frankly, that is the most honest signal a company can send. Ignore the slogans and watch the headcount.
Also read: UK Parliament opens inquiry into banks blocking crypto payments as £1 billion in transactions gets rejected • Ramp opens stablecoin accounts to all businesses as corporate finance quietly moves onto crypto rails • Jack Mallers quits Twenty One Capital as its stock hits a record low and Tether's merger collapses
