Over 95% of Coinbase’s Code is Written with AI: Rob Witoff
Coinbase revealed AI now helps write more than 95% of its code as the crypto exchange shifts toward smaller, more senior teams following its May layoffs.
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Coinbase revealed AI now helps write more than 95% of its code as the crypto exchange shifts toward smaller, more senior teams following its May layoffs.
Over 95% of Coinbase’s Code is Written with AI: Rob Witoff
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Written by
Felix Ng
staff editor
Reviewed by
Bryan O'Shea
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Written by
Felix Ng
staff editor
Reviewed by
Bryan O'Shea
staff editor
Over 95% of Coinbase’s code is now written with AI
Latest News
Published
Jul 14, 2026
Coinbase’s Rob Witoff said the company is leaning more on AI to help with execution, but still needs high-agency humans for judgment and strategy.
Artificial intelligence now helps write more than 95% of Coinbase’s code, offering new insight into the crypto exchange’s AI strategy following its decision to cut 14% of its workforce earlier this year.
Coinbase cut 700 staff in May. In an
to employees, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said AI has “dramatically”
changed the pace of work
and
there was a need
to “return to the speed and focus of our startup founding, with AI at our core.”
“Effectively, 100% of our employees are using AI on a daily basis here,” Coinbase’s head of platform, Rob Witoff, told Cointelegraph. “And close to 100% of our code, probably somewhere between 95% and 100%, is written by or with LLMs today.”
The figure is more than double Coinbase’s February estimate, when the company
said
40% of its code was written with AI, reflecting the accelerating pace of AI adoption across tech and crypto companies.
Rob Witoff talks about Coinbase’s adoption of AI. Source: Cointelegraph
Witoff, however, said there is a “wide spectrum” in how it is used and the degree to which it is relied on. While writing core cryptography mainly relies on human input, prototyping is fully automated and core systems sit somewhere in the middle, he said.
“For example, when we’re writing core cryptography, we have industry-leading cryptographers that are meticulously researching and reviewing one line at a time.”
“We’re using AI quite a bit to test and make sure the code we’ve written is working the way it should, there’s no vulnerabilities, we’re verifying the math, but that’s a much more manual part than where we’re building internal prototypes, which is now effectively a 100% automated.”
Smaller teams with “tastemakers”
The shift has allowed Coinbase to reorganize around smaller, more senior teams, Witoff said, with two or three employees now capable of handling work that previously required 10 or more people.
“There were a lot of junior development roles that were impacted,” he said of the May layoffs, though the cuts extended across the company, including marketing, legal, customer support and compliance roles.
“For those smaller teams to work, for people to have the taste, the judgment, I think a lot about people having the battle scars so they know how to point agents in the right direction.”
Witoff said that most Coinbase engineers now have five to 10 AI agents operating at any given time, with AI agents collectively performing the coding work of about 1,200 employees.
By 2030, Coinbase could see AI agents doing the equivalent work of 100,000 employees, he said.
Coinbase said its AI spend has remained “flat” despite growing token use. Source:
Brian Armstrong
Related:
Robinhood says its AI agent feature will ‘soon’ be assisting crypto traders
Coinbase was part of a wave of companies to lay off staff this year amid a rise in enterprise AI. In March, crypto exchange Crypto.com
cut 12% of its staff
, impacting roles “that do not adapt in our new world.”
In February, Block CEO Jack Dorsey said he was
cutting 40% of Block’s workforce
.
“We’re already seeing that the intelligence tools we’re creating and using, paired with smaller and flatter teams, are enabling a new way of working which fundamentally changes what it means to build and run a company,” Dorsey
said
on X.
Other crypto companies that cited AI-related efficiencies in this year’s layoffs included
Kraken
, Gemini,
Messari
and
Dune
.
Magazine:
Robinhood L2 sparks ETH optimism, Saylor ‘muddies waters.’ Hodler’s Digest, July 5-12, 2026
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Editorial Policy
and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.
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Original YayaNews editorial coverage, published for informational purposes.
This article is sourced from CoinTelegraph. It is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
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