Coinbase issues rallying cry as exchanges are battered by crypto crash
Crypto exchange Coinbase has issued a rallying cry for crypto today as it scrambles to restore confidence from customers after a plunge in the market in recent weeks.
In a blog published today, the firm told investors volatility was “painful” and “scary” but to be expected as crypto matured.
“Nobody likes to lose money in the short term — whether in crypto, or the stock market more broadly,” chief marketing officer Kate Rouch wrote.
“That said, volatility is also natural for emerging technological breakthroughs like crypto.”
The call comes after a turbulent period for the bourse in which it has grapppled with a plummeting share price and a slide in revenues.
Bosses said last week that revenues fell 27 per cent in the first quarter of the year as it reported a net loss of $430m, while shares in the firm are currently trading at an 80 per cent discount on their IPO price.
Coinbase revealed this week it would now slow a planned hiring push amid the downturn, after outlining plans to add 2000 employees in February.
Crypto exchanges have been hit by a slowdown in the first quarter of the year as investors look for steadier ground as digital asset prices plunge.
Coinbase notched up around $72bn of spot trading of digital tokens in April, compared with an average of $118bn over the previous 12 months, according to data collated by The Block Crypto.
Boss of Coinbase competitor Binance, Chanpeng Zhao, said he was “poor again” this week after his firm’s holdings in crypto currency Luna plunged in value from $1.6bn to around $2,200 this week.
It comes as FTX, the exchange run by crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried announced today it would launch a US equity trading service as it looks to expand beyond crypto.
FTX said it would offer a “holistic investing service” for customers across “all asset classes”.