It seems like the “crypto winter” isn’t going away anytime soon, but Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong doesn’t seem to be worried about it at the moment. In a recent interview with CNBC, Armstrong said that crypto downturns are nothing unusual and that the crypto exchange has gone through multiple similar periods in the 10 years it has been around.
According to Armstrong, the company is focused on doing what it does best and not getting distracted by sudden changes in the crypto market.
“We have this saying internally, I like to repeat a lot, which is you know, it’s never as good as it seems, it’s never as bad as it seems,” Armstrong explained. “I think one of the reasons Coinbase has been so successful in the last 10 years is we just we try not to get focused on short-term ups and downs.”
All major cryptocurrencies have been going through a rough period in recent months. Bitcoin is currently trading at $21,504.80, which represents a 54.95% drop year-to-date. Ethereum is 55.82% down year-to-date and is currently trading at $1,664.51 per coin.
This slide has been particularly hard for crypto exchanges, and Coinbase was dealt a big blow since the start of the year, seeing its stock slump 71.53%. As a result, the company has been trying to find ways to cut costs, including laying off 1,100 workers.
Reduced costs still remain a theme at Coinbase, according to Armstrong, but shouldn’t come at the expense of the employees. Instead, the company aims to cut its cost in areas of “marketing, external vendors, and Amazon Web Services.”
“I can’t tell you what the world’s going to be like a year from now,” added Armstrong, hinting that the safety of jobs in his company is just temporary.