It does appear Coinbase is paying severance to folks who hadn't started yet- so that is a plus. I have no idea if it is really "generous" as they claim in their blog post, though.
You're right about who is to say. It depends on how much Crypto grows and how important engineering is to a Crypto brokerage, e.g., Vanguard's UI sucks but their rates are great and that's why I have my money there.
The key is offsetting financial hardship, as they said. I think it will set back the job search months for some people, perhaps longer depending on what happens with the economy. I think severence based a month or two's living expenses would be reasonable though.