Coinbase shares bounce back along with Bitcoin

by Arthur · March 21, 2023

Brian Armstrong, founder and CEO of Coinbase, speaks during a Bloomberg Television interview. Victor J. Blue—Bloomberg/Getty Images

As Bitcoin goes, so goes the rest of crypto, and that includes Coinbase.

In less than two weeks, the stock exchange’s shares have risen approx. 56%, topping more than $83 a share, a six-month high.

Coinbase’s recent resurgence reflects a broader rally in the crypto market. On Sunday, Bitcoin breached $28,000 for the first time since June 2022, as investors rushed to the digital asset amid fears of a banking crisis. Other cryptocurrencies are also up, including Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization and the original token for the Ethereum blockchain, which has gained 20% in less than two weeks.

The rising stock price is welcome news after a tough year for Coinbase, which reported fourth-quarter earnings that included a net loss of $2.6 billion for 2022. Amid a prolonged crypto winter, the cryptocurrency exchange reported a 50% decline in total trading volume compared with 2021.

“To state the obvious, 2022 was a challenging year for the crypto markets and our transaction revenues,” Coinbase wrote in its shareholder letter.

A spokesperson for Coinbase declined to comment on the latest stock gains when reached Tuesday by Fortune.

The company, led by founder and CEO Brian Armstrong, has also battled an increasingly hostile regulatory landscape as the Securities and Exchange Commission and the federal government have pursued a widespread crypto crackdown following the sudden fall of FTX.

In January, the SEC accused crypto firms Genesis and Gemini of selling unregistered securities through the companies’ income-bearing product, Gemini Earn. In February, rival cryptocurrency exchange Kraken agreed to pay a $30 million fine and shut down its betting service, which the SEC alleged amounted to selling unregistered securities.

And Coinbase, along with the broader crypto landscape, has also reckoned with the sudden disappearance of Silvergate and Signature, once the industry’s banks of choice.

But the recent boom in crypto prices — and Coinbase’s stock — has enthusiasts hoping that the lingering chill of Crypto Winter may soon subside.