FOLLOW US

Crypto exchange Coinbase is "temporarily shutting down" its US affiliate-marketing program, according to emails sent to three creators and shared with Insider.

The US program will temporarily shut down on July 19, the emails said.

"We regret to inform you that Coinbase will be temporarily shutting down its Affiliate Program in the United States with an effective date of Tuesday, July 19th," the emails read. "This has not been an easy decision, nor was it made lightly, but, due to crypto market conditions and the outlook for the remainder of 2022, Coinbase is unable to continue supporting incentivized traffic to its platform."

The crypto exchange said in the emails that it has plans to relaunch the program in 2023, although it didn't share an exact date.

"We have established many valued partnerships through our affiliation platform that we hope to renew in the future," the emails said.

The news comes amid a severe crypto market crash. 

On June 14, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong announced in a blog post that the company was laying off 18% of its staff, or roughly 1,100 employees. On Friday, Bloomberg reported that Coinbase is now the world's 14th largest crypto exchange, down from the fourth position less than a year ago.

Before this recent affiliate news, Coinbase had already lowered commission rates for some influencers in June. 

"My commissions are almost non-existent with them anymore, so I haven't paid attention," said a fourth influencer who used the program. 

Many personal-finance influencers earn revenue from affiliate marketing or driving sales or sign-ups to a platform. 

In response to a request for comment about the affiliate marketing program, a coinbase spokesperson said:

"As shared in our Q1 Shareholder Letter, the majority of our marketing spend is oriented towards performance marketing. Affiliate marketing is one of many supplemental levers we employ to reach target audiences, and the temporary pause of the program is in no way indicative of a liquidity problem. As a publicly traded company, our strong balance sheet is transparent to the public. We look forward to working with many of our incredible partners and web3 creators in the future."