Coinbase is expanding its operations into various countries in Europe amid a "crypto winter." Despite laying off numerous employees and rescinding job offers, Coinbase's vice president Nana Murugesan revealed intentions to register in Italy, Spain, France and the Netherlands. In Switzerland, the United States-based cryptocurrency exchange has already hired its first employees and is already licensed to trade cryptocurrencies in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Germany. In an interview on June 29, Murugesan stated that the firm is now looking to expand into Europe. Furthermore, amid the cryptocurrency market slump, the company is also open to acquisitions in the region. …

Shares of Coinbase Global Inc. (COIN) have been downgraded by analysts at Goldman Sachs after plunging cryptocurrency prices affected the exchange’s underlying business, underscoring the challenges posed by the bear market. The reason for the downgrade stems from the “continued downdraft in crypto prices,” Goldman analyst William Nance said in a note that was obtained by Bloomberg. The analyst said Coinbase “will need to make substantial reductions in its cost base in order to stem the resulting cash burn as retail trading activity dries up.” According to Bloomberg, Coinbase still has 20 buy recommendations, 6 holds and 5 sell ratings …

Credit ratings agency Moody’s has downgraded the Corporate Family Rating (CFR) and guaranteed senior unsecured notes of crypto exchange Coinbase, stating that both ratings have been placed under review for further downgrade. The CFR, a rating assigned to reflect Moody’s opinion of a company’s ability to honor its financial obligations, was downgraded from Ba2 to Ba3, which is considered below non-investment grade. Senior unsecured notes are a type of debt a company holds that is not backed by any assets and, in the event of bankruptcy, must be repaid before any others. Moody’s downgraded Coinbase from Ba1 to Ba2. Earlier …

In a new blog post published Thursday, Coinbase says that starting Monday, all of its customers in the Netherlands will need to complete new Know Your Customer, or KYC, requirements when transferring digital assets to wallet addresses that are not based on the exchange. This includes providing the recipient's full name, the purpose of the transfer and the recipient's complete residential address. Transfers between Coinbase accounts are not affected by the new rule. The exchange noted that the change will only impact Coinbase users in the Netherlands, and is being implemented to comply with the country's digital asset regulations. Non-custodial …

Coinbase’s professional trading platform, Coinbase Pro, will cease to exist as the cryptocurrency exchange unveiled plans to restructure its services to consolidate them into one platform. The United States-based crypto trading firm officially announced on Wednesday that it will start sunsetting Coinbase Pro to migrate all advanced trading services into one unified Coinbase account. Coinbase Pro’s services will migrate to Advanced Trade, Coinbase’s new trading section accessible via the exchange’s website. The section was initially launched in March 2022, providing traders with in-depth analysis and actual trading directly on Coinbase. According to the announcement, Advanced Trade will provide the same …

A class-action suit was filed against Coinbase on Thursday, claiming the trading platform was negligent in its listing of the TerraUSD Classic (USTC) stablecoin and alleging that it failed to disclose its financial relationship with Terraform Labs. This is the second class-action suit outstanding against Coinbase. A suit was filed last month in connection with the depegging of GYEN (GYEN) in November. Thursday’s suit alleges that Coinbase was negligent for failing to conduct due diligence of Terraform Labs before it listed USTC and misrepresenting TerraUSD Classic’s risk as an algorithmic stablecoin. The suit compares the information on stablecoins provided by …

The 2022 version of crypto winter has been unlike anything we’ve seen before. As I warned last month, the meltdown of the Terra ecosystem didn’t end with Luna Classic (LUNC) hitting zero. The biggest threat was contagion. As the dust began to settle, we finally got a glimpse of who was left holding the bag. Crypto lender Celsius and Singapore-based venture firm Three Arrows Capital suffered heavy losses during the debacle. These firms, once a staple of the budding crypto industry, now risk demise following weeks of massive selloffs in the market. Celsius reportedly seeks advice from lawyers on restructuring …

The United States Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or FINRA, reportedly plans to “bulk up” its capability to monitor crypto — a move that could include scooping up employees recently terminated from crypto companies. According to a Tuesday Reuters report, FINRA president and CEO Robert Cook encouraged crypto workers who expect to be on the chopping block to reach out to the financial regulator as part of its efforts to increase resources related to the space. Major crypto exchanges in the United States including Coinbase and Gemini have announced plans to cut staff amid extreme market volatility, likely resulting in the …

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong officially announced on Tuesday that he made a "difficult decision" to reduce the size of the Coinbase team by about 18% due to a starting economic recession. “We appear to be entering a recession after a 10+ year economic boom. A recession could lead to another crypto winter, and could last for an extended period,” Armstrong wrote. He added that the trading revenue significantly declined during past crypto winters, noting that Coinbase has survived through four major crypto winters since its foundation in 2012. Armstrong emphasized that the firm has been growing “too quickly,” with Coinbase’s …

A disgruntled Coinbase employee, identified only as 0x58E3, created a petition on Mirror.xyz on Thursday calling for the removal of three company executives. The petition, titled Operation Revive COIN, has been taken down, but it was captured by the Internet Archive and other websites. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong responded to it at length on Twitter. Coinbase chief operating officer Emilie Choi, chief product officer Surojit Chatterjee and chief people officer LJ Brock were the targets of the call for removal for “executing plans and ideas that have led to questionable results and negative values.” The author listed eight of their …

International payment processing giant Mastercard is expanding its payment network for nonfungible token (NFT) markets and Web3. The financial service provider announced that it has been working on expanding their payment networks to NFTs over the past year. The firm has partnered with a number of leading NFT marketplaces to allow 2.9 billion cardholders to directly make NFT purchases without buying crypto first. Currently, users need to buy crypto to bid on and buy NFTs. However, with the latest Mastercard partnership, billions of cardholders can now bypass the process of buying a transferring crypto to NFT marketplaces. The firm said: …

Gemini, a cryptocurrency trading platform founded by brothers Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, is the latest industry firm to lay off a significant part of its staff due to unfavorable market conditions. Winklevoss’ crypto business Gemini Trust reportedly cut 10% of its employees amid the ongoing bear crypto market, the founders wrote in a notice to employees on June 2, as Bloomberg reported. As part of its first major headcount cut, Gemini will refocus on products that are “critical” to the firm’s mission, the brothers said, adding that “turbulent market conditions” are “likely to persist for some time.” The notice reportedly …