Nurettin Topal

[Nurettin Topal @nurettintopal]

new chapter unlocked!👨‍🍼❤️ step by step, first 3 weeks. 🚀

[Nurettin Topal @nurettintopal]

Interesting. So all those "AI replaced these workers" headlines were really just layoffs with better marketing? 🤦‍♂️

[Amazon Web Services @awscloud]

More AI-generated code doesn't make your team faster. It might actually slow you down.

[Nurettin Topal @nurettintopal]

A big part of the AI hype is a valuation game.

AI companies are trying to reach the highest possible valuation before an IPO. After that, the market will start to normalize.

The real winners will be the ones using AI to solve real problems, not just to create buzz.

[Nurettin Topal @nurettintopal]

"Non-technical teams are now shipping production code..."

This will definitely speed things up, but it might also introduce some "interesting" production challenges. Are we ready? 🤔

[Nurettin Topal @nurettintopal]

AI is amazing! It can even make bad management look like "strategy". 🤖

[Brian Armstrong @brian_armstrong]

This is an email I sent earlier today to all employees at Coinbase:

Team,

Today I’ve made the difficult decision to reduce the size of Coinbase by ~14%. I want to walk you through why we're doing this now, what it means for those affected, and how this positions us for the future.

Why now
Two forces are converging at the same time. We need to be front footed to respond to both.

First, the market. Coinbase is well-capitalized, has diversified revenue streams, and is well-positioned to weather any storm. Crypto is also on the verge of the next wave of adoption, with stablecoins, prediction markets, tokenization, and more taking off. However, our business is still volatile from quarter to quarter. While we've managed through that cyclicality many times before and come out stronger on the other side, we’re currently in a down market and need to adjust our cost structure now so that we emerge from this period leaner, faster, and more efficient for our next phase of growth.

Second, AI is changing how we work. Over the past year, I’ve watched engineers use AI to ship in days what used to take a team weeks. Non-technical teams are now shipping production code and many of our workflows are being automated. The pace of what's possible with a small, focused team has changed dramatically, and it's accelerating every day.

All of this has led us to an inflection point, not just for Coinbase, but for every company. The biggest risk now is not taking action. We are adjusting early and deliberately to rebuild Coinbase to be lean, fast, and AI-native. We need to return to the speed and focus of our startup founding, with AI at our core.

What this means
To get there, we are not just reducing headcount and cutting costs, we’re fundamentally changing how we operate: rebuilding Coinbase as an intelligence, with humans around the edge aligning it. What does this mean in practice?

- Fewer layers, faster decisions: We are flattening our org structure to 5 layers max below CEO/COO. Layers slow things down and create coordination tax. The future is small, high context teams that can move quickly. Leaders will own much more, with as many as 15+ direct reports. Fewer layers also means a leaner cost structure that is built to perform through all market cycles.

- No pure managers: Every leader at Coinbase must also be a strong and active individual contributor. Managers should be like player-coaches, getting their hands dirty alongside their teams.

- AI-native pods: We’ll be concentrating around AI-native talent who can manage fleets of agents to drive outsized impact. We’ll also be experimenting with reduced pod sizes, including “one person teams” with engineers, designers, and product managers all in one role.

In short: AI is bringing a profound shift in how companies operate, and we’re reshaping Coinbase to lead in this new era. This is a new way of working, and we need to leverage AI across every facet of our jobs.

To those who are affected
I know there are real people behind these decisions — talented colleagues who have poured themselves into this company and our mission. To those of you who will be leaving: thank you. You’ve helped build Coinbase into what it is today, and I am sincerely grateful for everything you've done.

All impacted team members will receive an email to their personal account in the next hour with more information, and an invitation to meet with an HRBP and a senior leader in your organization. Coinbase system access has been removed today. I know this feels sudden and harsh, but it is the only responsible choice given our duty to protect customer information.

To those affected, we will be providing a comprehensive package to support you through this transition. US employees will receive a minimum of 16 weeks base pay (plus 2 weeks per year worked), their next equity vest, and 6 months of COBRA. Employees on a work visa will get extra transition support. Those outside of the US will receive similar support, based on local factors and subject to any consultation requirements.

Coinbase prides itself on talent density. Our employees are among the most talented people in the world, and I have no doubt that your skills and experience will be highly sought after as you pursue your next chapters.

How we move forward
To the team that is staying, I know this is a difficult day. We’re saying goodbye to colleagues and friends you've been in the trenches with. But here’s what I want you to know as we move forward together:

Over the past 13 years, we have weathered four crypto winters, gone public, and built the most trusted platform in our industry. We’ve made it this far by making hard decisions and by always staying focused on our mission. This time will be no different – nothing has changed about the long term outlook of our company or industry. And most importantly, our mission has never been more important for the world. Increasing economic freedom requires a new financial system, and we’re building it.

The Coinbase that emerges from this will be more capable than ever to achieve our mission.

Brian

[Nurettin Topal @nurettintopal]

We'll write code faster with AI, but first we need to normalize this: a lot more incidents. 🤪

[Nurettin Topal @nurettintopal]

Also, quitting a CTO role to become an MTS after pocketing tens of millions? Not that "strange", if you ask me. 😏

[Nurettin Topal @nurettintopal]

Becoming an MTS at Anthropic might even be more appealing than being a CTO at a traditional company. 🤔

[Henry Shi @henrythe9ths]

Something strange is happening in tech.

CTOs of billion dollar companies are quitting to take IC roles at Anthropic.

Workday CTO -> MTS (Mar 2026)
You[.]com CTO -> MTS (Mar 2026)
Instagram CTO -> MTS (Jan 2026)
Box CTO -> MTS (Dec 2025)
Super[.]com CTO -> MTS (July 2025)
Adept AI CTO -> MTS (Jan 2025)

The mission is that real.

[Nurettin Topal @nurettintopal]

Writing code faster ≠ Building better products

The real difference will be here: Clarity > Speed

The winners will use AI not only to code, but to improve thinking and alignment. 🤞

[Nurettin Topal @nurettintopal]

In almost 20 years in software, I saw very few projects fail because of code.

The real reasons were always similar:

* Unclear requirements
* Changing scope
* Poor planning
* Bad decisions

But today, where is our focus? 👇

[Nurettin Topal @nurettintopal]

The mistake today: AI-first coding
What we really need: AI-first organizations

AI should help with:

* Clarifying requirements
* Supporting decisions
* Setting priorities
* Predicting risks

[Nurettin Topal @nurettintopal]

cloud providers, fully managed services, highly distributed systems, pay as you go, etc. 🤪

[Dear Son. @DearS_o_n]

Name a huge scam that has been normalised?

[Nurettin Topal @nurettintopal]

Can we move past the idea that "AI killed software engineering"?

AI helps us build bigger, more complex things. That means we'll need more skilled engineers, not fewer.

Let the hype end. Let the real work begin! 🤞

[Nurettin Topal @nurettintopal]

For those who say “the bad days are over,” just a small reminder: much worse days are coming. With AI, we will start to see these kinds of disasters more often. Be ready! 🔥

[Feross @feross]

🚨 CRITICAL: Active supply chain attack on axios -- one of npm's most depended-on packages.

The latest [email protected] now pulls in [email protected], a package that did not exist before today. This is a live compromise.

This is textbook supply chain installer malware. axios has 100M+ weekly downloads. Every npm install pulling the latest version is potentially compromised right now.

Socket AI analysis confirms this is malware. plain-crypto-js is an obfuscated dropper/loader that:

• Deobfuscates embedded payloads and operational strings at runtime
• Dynamically loads fs, os, and execSync to evade static analysis
• Executes decoded shell commands
• Stages and copies payload files into OS temp and Windows ProgramData directories
• Deletes and renames artifacts post-execution to destroy forensic evidence

If you use axios, pin your version immediately and audit your lockfiles. Do not upgrade.

[Nurettin Topal @nurettintopal]

@ardadev @1Password @Bitwarden Thanks, I will check it. 🤞

I’ve been using 1Password for almost 10 years, but I still haven’t found any app as usable as 1Password.

Maybe it’s just about getting used to it over time.

[Nurettin Topal @nurettintopal]

What kind of price increase is this? Are you crazy? 😤 @1Password

[Nurettin Topal @nurettintopal]

“AI will replace all software engineers”, they said.

OpenAI: “let’s just hire 3,500 more people” 😄

[Polymarket @Polymarket]

BREAKING: OpenAI reportedly plans to nearly double its workforce to 8,000 ‌from 4,500 by the end of the year.

[Nurettin Topal @nurettintopal]

AI writes the code → junior pushes it → senior puts out the fires 🔥

New job description: Senior engineer = rollback specialist + fire extinguisher operator. 🤪

[Lukasz Olejnik @lukOlejnik]

Amazon is holding a mandatory meeting about AI breaking its systems. The official framing is "part of normal business." The briefing note describes a trend of incidents with "high blast radius" caused by "Gen-AI assisted changes" for which "best practices and safeguards are not yet fully established." Translation to human language: we gave AI to engineers and things keep breaking?
The response for now? Junior and mid-level engineers can no longer push AI-assisted code without a senior signing off. AWS spent 13 hours recovering after its own AI coding tool, asked to make some changes, decided instead to delete and recreate the environment (the software equivalent of fixing a leaky tap by knocking down the wall). Amazon called that an "extremely limited event" (the affected tool served customers in mainland China).

[Nurettin Topal @nurettintopal]

We posted 500 job openings.
We hired 34 people.
160.000 people sent us their resumes.

We didn't pay a consulting firm to do labor market research.

The candidates did it for free. 🤦‍♂️

[Peter Girnus 🦅 @gothburz]

Last year I posted 500 open positions for my company.

We hired 34 people.

The other 466 jobs were never real.

I'm the Head of Talent Acquisition.

That's not what I acquire.

What I acquire is data.

Resumes, salary expectations, skill sets, market intelligence.

160,000 applicants gave us their career history for free.

We used it to benchmark compensation.

Not to raise salaries.

To confirm we were paying below market and get away with it.

I call it "building a talent pipeline."

A pipeline is a thing you build and never turn on.

Recruiters call this "passive sourcing."

There is nothing passive about wasting 160,000 people's time.

But it sounds like a strategy.

Some of our listings have been posted for 11 months.

One has been up for two years.

It's for a "Director of Innovation."

We don't have an innovation department.

We don't have the budget.

But the listing makes us look like we're growing.

Investors see open roles and think momentum.

Our stock went up 8% after we posted 200 jobs in one week.

We didn't hire anyone that week.

Or the week after.

We have an applicant tracking system.

It auto-rejects 95% of applicants.

Based on keywords.

I don't know what keywords.

No one does.

It was configured in 2019 by a contractor who no longer works here.

We've never updated it.

Some applicants spend hours customizing their resumes.

The system reads them for six seconds.

Then it sends a rejection email.

"After careful consideration."

There was no consideration.

Careful or otherwise.

I know this because I'm the one who wrote the template.

Sometimes I repost the same job with a different title.

"Senior Data Analyst" becomes "Data Analytics Lead."

Same description.

Same salary.

Same no one getting hired.

But it resets the posting date.

Fresh listings get more applicants.

More applicants means more data.

More data means better benchmarking.

Better benchmarking means I present at the quarterly review.

I presented last quarter.

I showed a slide that said we "received unprecedented candidate interest."

160,000 people applied for jobs that didn't exist.

That's the unprecedented interest.

The VP of People called it "brand strength."

The CFO asked about our hiring efficiency.

I said we were "optimizing for quality over speed."

Quality means we haven't hired anyone.

Speed means we don't plan to.

HR asked about candidate experience.

I showed them our NPS score.

It was 12.

Out of 100.

I said that was "within industry range."

I made up the industry range.

No one checked.

They never do.

Last month a candidate emailed me directly.

She said she'd applied to four roles over eight months.

Customized every resume. Wrote every cover letter.

Never heard back.

She asked if the jobs were real.

I sent her to the automated FAQ.

The FAQ says "We value every application."

That's not true.

We value every data point.

There's a difference.

I'm up for promotion.

My metrics are outstanding.

500 roles posted. 160,000 applicants captured.

Cost per acquisition: $0.

I didn't acquire anyone.

But the cost was zero.

Zero is a good number in a dashboard.

Dashboards get presented.

Presentations get approved.

Approvals get me promoted.

I'll be VP of Talent by Q4.

I don't find talent.

I collect it.

Like a jar you never open.

[Nurettin Topal @nurettintopal]

A friend at a pandemic-hypergrowth company said:

"I don't have time to work, I'm stuck in interviews. I keep saying we don't need more hires; HR keeps pushing for X more. At this rate, we'll hire anyone who can write Hello World!"

You know how that ended. 🤷‍♂️

[Nurettin Topal @nurettintopal]

- Let's triple the team.
- Why?
- Our competitors have bigger teams.
- OK, what are we going to do with that many people?
- The important thing is to look crowded.
- OK, why?
- Because investors love seeing "Team: 100 -> 300" on a slide.
- 😱

Sounds familiar, doesn't it? 🤔

[jack @jack]

we're making @blocks smaller today. here's my note to the company.

####

today we're making one of the hardest decisions in the history of our company: we're reducing our organization by nearly half, from over 10,000 people to just under 6,000. that means over 4,000 of you are being asked to leave or entering into consultation. i'll be straight about what's happening, why, and what it means for everyone.

first off, if you're one of the people affected, you'll receive your salary for 20 weeks + 1 week per year of tenure, equity vested through the end of may, 6 months of health care, your corporate devices, and $5,000 to put toward whatever you need to help you in this transition (if you’re outside the U.S. you’ll receive similar support but exact details are going to vary based on local requirements). i want you to know that before anything else. everyone will be notified today, whether you're being asked to leave, entering consultation, or asked to stay.

we're not making this decision because we're in trouble. our business is strong. gross profit continues to grow, we continue to serve more and more customers, and profitability is improving. but something has changed. 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. and that's accelerating rapidly.

i had two options: cut gradually over months or years as this shift plays out, or be honest about where we are and act on it now. i chose the latter. repeated rounds of cuts are destructive to morale, to focus, and to the trust that customers and shareholders place in our ability to lead. i'd rather take a hard, clear action now and build from a position we believe in than manage a slow reduction of people toward the same outcome. a smaller company also gives us the space to grow our business the right way, on our own terms, instead of constantly reacting to market pressures.

a decision at this scale carries risk. but so does standing still. we've done a full review to determine the roles and people we require to reliably grow the business from here, and we've pressure-tested those decisions from multiple angles. i accept that we may have gotten some of them wrong, and we've built in flexibility to account for that, and do the right thing for our customers.

we're not going to just disappear people from slack and email and pretend they were never here. communication channels will stay open through thursday evening (pacific) so everyone can say goodbye properly, and share whatever you wish. i'll also be hosting a live video session to thank everyone at 3:35pm pacific. i know doing it this way might feel awkward. i'd rather it feel awkward and human than efficient and cold.

to those of you leaving…i’m grateful for you, and i’m sorry to put you through this. you built what this company is today. that's a fact that i'll honor forever. this decision is not a reflection of what you contributed. you will be a great contributor to any organization going forward.

to those staying…i made this decision, and i'll own it. what i'm asking of you is to build with me. we're going to build this company with intelligence at the core of everything we do. how we work, how we create, how we serve our customers. our customers will feel this shift too, and we're going to help them navigate it: towards a future where they can build their own features directly, composed of our capabilities and served through our interfaces. that's what i'm focused on now. expect a note from me tomorrow.

jack