When Coinbase first listed on public stock markets last year, it was quite the moment for the crypto exchange itself and for the digital assets industry more broadly — the moment crypto was allowed behind the velvet rope and into the Wall Street establishment.
No matter that the company’s own regulatory filings said it was reliant on a small number of customers, nor that it said employees “generally do not maintain the same compliance customs and rules as financial services firms”. It was effectively a case of “shut up and take my money”. The listing delivered Coinbase a market capitalisation of $65bn, at the time on a par with the value of Intercontinental Exchange, the owner of the New York Stock Exchange itself.
The stock has been a dud from the start. Investors who got in on day one were already down 25 per cent by the time this year began. But after a truly grim week marked by drab first-quarter earnings and a disclosure flub that forced chief executive Brian Armstrong to apologise and deny the company was about to go bankrupt, shares are now down 80 per cent from their opening price on debut.