Coinbase Ditches HQ Model—Doubles Down on SF Office Expansion
San Francisco’s crypto scene just got a power-up. Coinbase—the exchange that somehow still turns a profit while mainstream finance gnashes its teeth—is planting fresh roots in the city. No more ’headquarters.’ Just decentralized offices, because nothing says ’Web3 ethos’ like avoiding commercial real estate taxes.
The move screams strategic flex: SF’s talent pool meets Coinbase’s post-IPO swagger. Because when your stock swings like a meme coin, you might as well invest in zip codes.
Wall Street analysts are already sharpening their knives. But let’s be real—if anyone can monetize regulatory ambiguity and vibes, it’s these guys.
Tax concerns, lease obligations
Coinbase’s return to the city comes after it paid $25 million for the “early termination of an office lease,” its 2023 shareholder letter shows, following its transition to operating without a traditional headquarters in February 2021.
Coinbase announced on May 5, 2021, that it WOULD close its San Francisco office—its former headquarters—in 2022 as part of its transition to a remote-first model. The company emphasized that this move was intended to ensure no single location would be considered its headquarters, aligning with its decentralized workforce strategy.
While the exact closure date in 2022 was not publicly specified, the office at 430 California Street was fully decommissioned that year.
In 2022, a similar move out of the city was made by Kraken, a rival U.S. exchange, with its former CEO Jesse Powell saying the city had "fallen quite far," recounting how he has seen it "deteriorate" since he moved in 2013.
"We never left California. Lots of our employees live there. We go to where the talent is," Armstrong said in response to concerns pointing out that San Francisco was a "tax-heavy state."
Data compiled by the tax consulting and advisory firm Ryan indicates that businesses in San Francisco pay taxes based on their annual revenue, with two central taxes that become more expensive as companies grow their earnings.
Small businesses that earn less than $5 million annually are exempt from the main business tax, but larger companies can pay up to approximately 4% of their total revenue when both taxes are combined, according to changes in business tax for the city approved in November of last year.
Coinbase’s 10-K SEC filing for late 2024 describes the company as a "remote-first company" that does not "maintain a headquarters" for its roughly 3,800 employees.
The report indicates $132.3 million in global total operating lease obligations for corporate offices, with $9.9 million due in the next 12 months.
Edited by Sebastian Sinclair
