Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase reported its first net loss as a public company of $430 million in the first quarter, but CEO Brian Armstrong said on an earnings call that he “has never been more optimistic about where we are as a company.”
In Q1 2022 Coinbase Report a statement Revenue decreased 27% to $1.17 billion, down from $1.6 billion in the first quarter of 2021 and away from revenue in the fourth quarter of 2021 of $2.5 billion. The number of users who transact per month also decreased by more than 19% to 9.2 million, compared to 11.4 million in the last quarter.
Coinbase shares are already down more than 16% to close at $73 on the day, and after earnings were disclosed after hours of trading, the price saw an even bigger drop to $61 at the time of writing. Coinbase shares have been in a steady decline since November 2021, having nearly reached the high of $380 from their initial public offering in April of last year.
Despite the numbers, Armstrong explained why he remains optimistic about earnings communicate:
“There are so many customers skipping all the way to our door that we have to have all hands on deck just to keep everything running, so the occasional drop-offs are often kind of a welcome change from that in the sense that we focus on building the class following of innovation that will benefit us in the next cycle.”
Armstrong said the company was “greedy when others are afraid”, acquiring talent and focusing on it projects and infrastructure For the future. Turning to what he called “the elephant in the room” of the company’s decline in profits, he said:
“Broader markets have plummeted. We are seeing a market downturn in tech stocks and risky assets, and Coinbase and cryptocurrencies are no exception. The good news is that as a crypto company we’ve gone through many different cycles in crypto, including major drawdowns, which I think makes us a good fit. perfectly to work in these environments.”
He reminded shareholders of the company’s introductory prospectus a year ago that stated that it aimed to increase cryptocurrency adoption in the long term, and run the company to breakeven.
In its contributor letter, Coinbase mentioned its last non-fungible token (NFT) Market launch As an area it has been focusing more on in an effort to become a market leader in the field and its ambition to develop its platform as an “on the ramp to the crypto economy.”
Related: Coinbase CEO responds to insider trading allegations with changes to token listings
Armstrong stated that 54% of active users of the platform do something other than cryptocurrency trading, but he did not elaborate on the activities and did not mention the new NFT market in his opening statement.
When asked specifically if the company is satisfied with activity in its NFT market, Armstrong said it does not share “the metrics for any of our new initiatives,” adding that “there is a lot to build and the opportunity in the NFT space is enormous.”
The first day of the general opening of the market Only saw $75,000 in transaction volume It takes place across 150 metrics on-chain transactions, a small percentage of the more than 8 million email addresses signed up for the queue.
Concluding his opening remarks, Armstrong said that the industry is in its early days, and Coinbase sees future opportunities, adding that “regardless of whether the market goes up or down, we will continue to build.”