Crypto exchange giant Coinbase has cited a "fast and furious" downturn of the crypto markets as the reasons behind a staggering $1.1 billion net loss in the second quarter of 2022, which also saw trading volume and transaction revenue tumbling. It's the second consecutive quarter of loss for the crypto company and the largest loss since its listing on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange (Nasdaq) in April 2021. The results, which also missed analyst expectations, were shared in a Q2 2022 Shareholder Letter from Coinbase on Aug. 9, stating: “The current downturn came fast and furious, and we are seeing customer …

The Coinbase drama, which started at the end of July, continues with new developments. Last week a former Coinbase Global product manager Ishan Wahi pleaded not guilty to two counts of wire fraud conspiracy and two counts of wire fraud in a Manhattan federal court. Wahi was arrested during his attempt to board a flight from the United States to India in May and accused of insider trading. While the Wahi’s figure is central to two separate court cases, another two lawsuits appeared last week against the San-Francisco-based crypto exchange. Legal firm Bragar Eagel & Squire revealed that it would …

The ongoing cryptocurrency winter has triggered an overall decline in interest in centralized crypto exchanges (CEX), but some crypto trading platforms have seen a rise in website traffic. A few major global crypto exchanges, including Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX, have experienced a significant increase in web traffic despite the bear market of 2022, according to the website analytics platform SimilarWeb. According to data shared with Cointelegraph, web traffic on the FTX crypto exchange has surged as much as 123% year-over-year (YoY) by June 2022. Trading platforms like WhiteBIT and ByBit have seen even bigger growth in interest, with traffic surging 244% …

Nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace OpenSea announced mass layoffs on Thursday, joining other crypto companies in reducing headcount during one of the most volatile periods in the industry’s history. Co-founder and CEO Devin Finzer took to Twitter Thursday afternoon to disclose that his company was laying off up to 20% of its staff. In a long message conveyed to employees, Finzer blamed “an unprecedented combination of crypto winter and broad macroeconomic instability” for the layoffs. Today is a hard day for OpenSea, as we’re letting go of ~20% of our team. Here’s the note I shared with our team earlier this …

Crypto exchange Coinbase is getting rid of slide decks and “endless meetings” as a way to improve productivity following the purge of roughly 18% of employees last month. In a July 13 blog post, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong noted that the company is currently focused on “driving more efficiency” as it continues to scale, pointing to a 200% year-on-year employee growth over 18 months that had started to put a strain on the firm’s organizational structure. He suggested that many major firms experiencing rapid growth generally end up becoming complacent and slowing down, while great companies do the opposite: “While …

Banking Circle, a European bank focused on cross-border payments, is adopting a major U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin for payment rails. The firm officially announced on Friday the adoption of the USD Coin (USDC) on its platform as a payment acceptance, processing and settlement method. The new payment feature is enabled as part of Banking Circle’s new service targeting banks and payment providers, allowing them to facilitate payments outside traditional bank rails. Coinbase, a major cryptocurrency exchange in the United States, will be one of the crypto liquidity providers for Bank Circle, the announcement notes. The USDC adoption by Banking Circle is …

Despite some touting crypto as a hedge against traditional markets, digital assets today share a similar risk profile to commodities such as oil and gas, and tech and pharmaceutical stocks, according to an analysis from Coinbase’s chief economist. The observation comes from a blog post from Coinbase chief economist Cesare Fracassi on Wednesday, noting that the “correlation between the stock and crypto-asset prices has risen significantly” since the 2020 pandemic. “While for the first decade of its existence, Bitcoin returns were on average uncorrelated with the performance of the stock market, the relationship increased quickly since the COVID pandemic started,” …

Coinbase has long been considered an important bellwether of the cryptocurrency market. Last year, when the company was expanding its workforce, adding institutional clients and issuing stock, crypto prices were hitting record highs. Now, in the depths of crypto winter, Coinbase finds itself slashing a fifth of its workforce, losing retail trading volume and contending with downgrades of its credit and stock. This week’s Crypto Biz dissects Goldman Sachs’ latest downgrade of Coinbase and also looks at the latest developments surrounding Three Arrows Capital. Goldman Sachs downgrades Coinbase stock to ‘sell’ After a promising debut on the Nasdaq stock exchange …

Amid the recent volatility in the crypto market affecting investments and stock prices, many firms made significant staff cuts in the last month while others continued hiring. In June, major crypto exchange Gemini was among the first to reportedly cut 10% of its employees amid the bear market, saying conditions were “likely to persist for some time.” Coinbase and Crypto.com followed, announcing plans to reduce staff by 18% and 5%, respectively. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong cited the so-called crypto winter as part of the reason for the cuts, but also stated the firm had been growing “too quickly.” Market conditions …

Crypto exchange platform Coinbase denied reports alleging that the company is selling its customer information to the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), an agency that works under the country’s Department of Homeland Security. On Thursday, news that Coinbase has been providing geolocation data to ICE has circulated online. Because of this, Twitter users like Solobase Mac were shocked and noted that they “didn't sign up for that.” They tweeted: Now why would they be doing that? So basically invasion of privacy. Sells with out knowledge? They will be owing me 10 million for that one. I didn’t sign …

Bitcoin (BTC) finished June 2022 just below $20,000 after a last-minute pump saw bulls escape 40% monthly losses. Analyst: Bitcoin could stay “boring” for months Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD spiking higher into the monthly close, which came in at $19,924 on Bitstamp. With that, the pair narrowly avoided its first-ever monthly close below a previous halving cycle’s all-time high. On Bitstamp in November 2017, Bitcoin reached approximately $19,770. Right on time. #BTC pic.twitter.com/KxZiOF0kF8 — Material Indicators (@MI_Algos) June 30, 2022 The success was, at best, touch-and-go for a market that nonetheless sealed its worst monthly …

A new report has indicated that crypto exchange Coinbase has provided Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents with a “suite of features” intended for tracking the company’s customers. According to the report, ICE has been granted access to an intelligence-gathering application, called Coinbase Tracer, that provides a variety of forensic data tracking capabilities. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is an government agency under the Department of Homeland Security. The primary purpose of ICE is to protect the country from cross-border crime and illegal immigration. Coinbase Tracer’s intent is to assist ICE with tracing malicious and fraudulent transactions on blockchains. According …