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Coinbase Tumbles to Record Lows as Crypto Meltdown Deepens

Yueqi Yang
Wed, May 11, 2022

Coinbase Tumbles to Record Lows as Crypto Meltdown Deepens

(Bloomberg) -- Coinbase Global Inc. shares and bonds plunged to new lows, signaling investor skepticism about the prospects of the crypto exchange in a worsening bear-market.

Shares plunged as much as 31% to $50.15 on Wednesday, a far cry from its first-day closing price of $328.28 when it went public last April. Its bonds also plunged, trading in line with some of the highest-risk junk-rated notes.

Coinbase is “unlikely to return to recent levels of profitability in the near term absent a significant increase in crypto prices or volatility,” Will Nance, an analyst at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. wrote in a note. “We believe COIN’s stock will struggle to outperform in the near term.”

Adding to the concern, cryptocurrencies underpinning some of the most popular decentralized finance protocols tumbled Wednesday as the collapse of the TerraUSD stablecoin triggered a stampede out of many of the digital-asset market’s most popular tokens.

The company reported lower-than-expected revenues yesterday, and warned trading volume and monthly transacting users in the second quarter is expected to be lower than in the first. A new risk disclosure in its filing triggered concerns among some users about the safety of their crypto assets held in custody by the company in the event of a bankruptcy.

Brian Armstrong, Coinbase’s chief executive officer, took to Twitter to clarify that there is “no risk of bankruptcy” and users’ funds are safe, while apologizing for not communicating proactively about the disclosure.

Bitcoin fell below $30,000 and touched its lowest level since June, while the TerraUSD stablecoin continued its downward spiral. Coinbase Chief Financial Officer Alesia Haas said yesterday that the company sees “bear-market conditions” but can still afford to make 2022 “an investment year.”