More red ink in the crypto world, this time one of the more established names – Coinbase, which this week revealed a $US2.69 billion plunge from a profit in June 2021 to a huge $US1.1 billion loss in the June quarter of this year.
It adds another embarrassing reality to the bros and others who for years have spruiked how the crypto world was going to be different than the fiat money world. In fact, as they are finding out, no matter how much funny money crypto assets you hold, a loss is a loss, especially when things go off the rails, as they have done for much of 2022.
Instead of the crypto nirvana of being different to the old money, the past three months has been full of bankruptcies, frauds and cratering coin prices and the loss of tens of thousands of jobs, not to mention hundreds of billions of dollars in value for investors and others in that world.
Coinbase (and others) had told investors that decentralised money could deliver economic freedom, free trade, lower fees, a better financial system – instead it reported an old-fashioned loss and a big one for a quarter, no matter the currency.
Coinbase revealed in this week’s June quarter report that revenue fell nearly 64% in the three months as investors exited the crypto market after the stablecoin collapses and other problems in May and June.
Confident in crypto has been battered by collapses by Celsius Networks, Three Arrows Capital and Voyager Digital – three of the most expensive and high-profile failures.
Coinbase reported a $US1.1 billion net loss, compared with $US1.59 billion in net income in the same quarter last year, according to a letter to shareholders. That $US2.6 billion turnaround is one of the largest of its kind seen in investment markets for a while.
It was enough to produce a net loss for the six months to June of $US1.52 billion (it lost $US430 million in the three months to March).
So why the turnaround? Coinbase’s letter details the damage.
With trading volume down another 30% compared to the weak first quarter, it suffered a $US620 million operating loss before an impairment charge and its net cash position fell by about $US400 million, to $US2.8 billion.
There was a $US446 million non-cash impairment charge related to its cryptocurrency business and venture investments.
Coinbase’s own cryptocurrency assets at the end of June were worth $US428 million, down from about $US1 billion at the end of March. Over 40% of the cryptocurrency assets were in Bitcoin (which has risen sharply in price since the end of the quarter).
“Q2 was a test of durability for crypto companies and a complex quarter overall,” the company said in the letter.
“Dramatic market movements shifted user behaviour and trading volume, which impacted transaction revenue, but also highlighted the strength of our risk management program.”
While the number of accounts dipped to 9 million from 9.2 million, they traded less and therefore generated lower fees and other revenues for Coinbase.
Macroeconomic (rising interest rates) and cryptocurrency credit (the string of crypto failures) resulted in lower trading volume during the quarter, the company said.Coinbase’s shares fell more than 70% in the quarter while the price of Bitcoin dropped just under 60%.
The slide in the value of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies and assets helps explain the slump in the reported value of assets held at June 30 to $US96 billion from$US256 billion a year earlier.
This has led to Coinbase resizing its business in response to the weaker market conditions. After cutting 18% of its staff, the hiring freeze remains in place.
“While we did see net outflows in Q2, we observed that the majority of this behaviour was institutional clients de-risking and selling crypto for fiat as opposed to withdrawing their crypto to another platform,” Coinbase said in the shareholder letter. “As a result, our market share of the total crypto market capitalisation declined to 9.9% from 11.2% in Q1.”
Coinbase updated its outlook for the full year. It now expects 7 million to 9 million monthly transacting users, as opposed to a range of 5 million to 15 million three months ago. Management said it expects average transaction revenue per user in the low $20 range, rather than pre-2021 levels.
Coinbase shares fell 16% in regular and afterhours trading on Tuesday. That still left them up around 50% in the past month but down over 70% year to date.
Coinbase has just signed a deal with Blackrock, the world’s biggest investment manager which will allow the latter’s institutional clients to trade crypto via the Coinbase prime platform. That saw the shares jump 30% when the deal was announced last week. After Tuesday report and sell down, those gains are all but gone.
The Financial Times got it right when it said in a headline reporting the deal “Blackrock comes to Coinbase’s rescue”.
