Coinbase closed its Chicago office and 30 employees were laid off

According to Coindesk, April 23reportsCoinbase, the popular cryptocurrency exchange, has decided to close its Chicago branch and cut about 30 jobs. Coinbase Markets, based in Chicago, focuses on developing complex, high-speed trading modules known as high-frequency trading, or HFT.

In fact, Coinbase's job cuts have created some buzz. The reason was a company blog post at the time that said the Chicago office would provide "a large talent pool of engineers with deep experience in exchange infrastructure" and "enable us to continue to provide the most efficient and reliable cryptocurrency exchange."

Paul Bauerschmidt, the executive in charge of the Chicago operations and head of product, former CME (Chicago mercantile exchange), and Derek Groothius, head of engineering, will also leave the company.

Although the office is closing, several Chicago employees not associated with the matching engine project will remain at Coinbase, the company said. In addition, Coinbase said it would consider moving a small number of its chicago-based staff on the project to San Francisco.

One of Coinbase Markets' main goals is to design a high-frequency/low-latency trading strategy for cryptocurrencies. The move to shrink the markets division reflects Coinbase's top priorities in attracting institutional investors, such as encrypted hosting and over-the-counter trading desks.

Regarding the Chicago build, a Coinbase spokesperson confirmed that it would retain the intellectual property and possibly integrate it into the company's technology, with a final response that said, "this team has created some amazing technology that can be used to influence the future development of our matching engine."

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