Against the backdrop of the FTX collapse and a rout in the cryptocurrency market, Coinbase’s revenues for 2022 could be halved. This was stated by CEO Brian Armstrong in an interview with Bloomberg.
“In 2021 we earned revenue of about $7 billion, the EBITDA was around $4 billion. This year, given the widespread downturn, it looks like it will be roughly half that,” he said.
According to Bloomberg, the company previously said that in 2022 its loss based on adjusted EBITDA would not exceed $500 million.
Coinbase shares are trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange. Since January 2022, stock prices have fallen 83%.
Armstrong also commented on the FTX collapse. In his view, the collapse stemmed from “massive fraud”, not accounting or governance mistakes.
“It appears they raised client funds and effectively commingled or moved them into their hedge fund, ending up in a very precarious position. I suppose this violated the terms of service and the law,” he explained.
Despite the scandal around Sam Bankman-Fried, Armstrong stressed that he would not abandon lobbying efforts. In his view, regulators should focus primarily on oversight of stablecoins, centralized exchanges and custodial services. He also noted the need for a clear distinction between the terms “commodity” and “security” in the context of digital assets.
In November, the Coinbase chief said that his company was not affected by the crisis, in which the FTX platform found itself, and users were not at risk.
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