Coinbase Becomes First Crypto Company In Fortune 500

May 26, 2022 11:52 am Comments

The crypto industry has recently reached a new milestone as Coinbase becomes the first crypto company to be included in the Fortune 500.

This was able to be achieved despite the recent crypto market slump which indicates how much change was able to happen last year in 2021.

Last year, revenue for the company was recorded to be about $7.8 billion which is above the minimum requirement of $6.4 billion that companies typically need to reach before being included in the Fortune 500.

The focus now is how the firm will perform during 2022 where trading volumes have decreased significantly due to the crypto market crash.

Despite that, there is still much institutional interest during these times as there was back in 2017 a few years ago.

Fortune.com reports:

It’s been a rough start to 2022, though, as crypto prices have crashed and trading volumes have decreased.

Although the company has tried to diversify its revenue streams by officially launching its own NFT marketplace in early May, its marketplace has only about 2,900 unique active users, according to Bloomberg.

Coinbase’s business still hinges heavily on crypto trading, and the down market has hurt its earnings.

Bitcoin, which makes up about 44% of the entire crypto market, is trading below $30,000, its lowest level since December 2020, while the overall crypto market has lost nearly $1 trillion year to date in what has been among the worst crashes for the asset class ever.

Trading volume on its platform in the first quarter was $309 billion, short of the $331.2 billion analysts expected.

The volume of trades was down about 39% from the $547 billion in trade volume the company recorded in the fourth quarter of 2021 when crypto prices reached all-time highs.

So far, the company would need to improve on its revenue for the rest of the quarters this year in order to maintain its position as its first quarter results were lower than expectations.

Coinciding with the crypto markets, the stock market has also taken a dip as Coinbase’s stock has declined about 82% since the company’s opening price.

Previously reported this year, there have been online rumors from multiple sources that hinted that the company was scaling back on hiring and even reducing the workforce due to market conditions.

Yahoo reports:

Further falls in revenue could see Coinbase drop out of that prestigious list this year, added Fortune. A crypto winter like the one that started in early 2018 and lasted a year and a half could easily have that effect.

However, analysts have suggested that new products signal a strategic shift for the firm.

Coinbase recently announced plans to expand Coinbase Pay, develop an institutional staking protocol, and native decentralized app support within its platform as it aims to become an embedded service provider for the decentralized economy.

Several other crypto firms are also expected to IPO in the upcoming years, including firms like Ripple, which may eventually join the ranks of crypto firms that have made it to the Fortune 500.

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