Coinbase loses half its value in a week amid crypto slump

SILVER SPRING, Md. — Cryptocurrency trading platform Coinbase has lost half its value in the past week, including its biggest one-day drop to date on Wednesday as the famously volatile crypto market weathers yet another slump.

Coinbase reported a $430 million net loss in the first quarter, or $1.98 per share, on declining sales and active users. Analysts were expecting profit of 8 cents per share. Revenue was down as trading volumes fell, and active monthly users declined 19% from the fourth quarter.

It’s unlikely those results surprised investors — shares of Coinbase Global Inc. declined 43% in the four days leading up to their earnings release Tuesday. On Wednesday, shares fell 26%, to $53.72 per share. On the day of its initial public offering just 13 months ago, prices hit $429 per share.

Patrick O’Shaughnessy, an analyst who covers Coinbase for Raymond James, acknowledged in a note to clients that there was an ongoing debate over whether the crypto market was in one of its typical funks or if this was the post-pandemic bubble deflating.

“While management strongly believes the former will prove to be true, we suspect there is more than a bit of truth to the latter, particularly with crypto failing to serve as an inflation hedge thus far in 2022,” O’Shaughnessy wrote.