General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsA message from Coinbase CEO and Cofounder, Brian Armstrong
CoinbaseWhat has changed?
Over the past month, Ive had many conversations with our Exec team and our Board to discuss recent market events as well as the state of our business. Several realities have become clear to me in these discussions:
* Economic conditions are changing rapidly: 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. In past crypto winters, trading revenue (our largest revenue source) has declined significantly. While its hard to predict the economy or the markets, we always plan for the worst so we can operate the business through any environment.
* Managing our costs is critical in down markets: Coinbase has survived through four major crypto winters, and weve created long term success by carefully managing our spending through every down period. Down markets are challenging to navigate and require a different mindset.
* We grew too quickly: At the beginning of 2021, we had 1,250 employees. At the time, we were in the early innings of the bull run and adoption of crypto products was exploding. There were new use cases enabled by crypto getting traction practically every week. We saw the opportunities but we needed to massively scale our team to be positioned to compete in a broad array of bets. Its challenging to grow at just the right pace given the scale of our growth (~200% y/y since the beginning of 2021). While we tried our best to get this just right, in this case it is now clear to me that we over-hired.
getagrip_already
(14,710 posts)recession has zero to do with it.
You have been un-masked.
jimfields33
(15,775 posts)In ten years, cryptocurrency will be mainstream. Even the federal government is studying it for eventual implementation. Of course there will be bumps along the way. Everything new has challenges.
getagrip_already
(14,710 posts)Look, a ponzi scheme! Let's build an exchange to skim money from it and all like it!
Sure, it will eventually fail, but we will be rich and we will then claim any coin deposits as our assets and sell them off before turning out the lights!
That isn't progress. It's theft by another name.
OLDMDDEM
(1,572 posts)They need to be regulated. That is all.
Moostache
(9,895 posts)a broad array of bets.
I have always seen Cryptocurrency as nothing more than a 3-card Monte style gambling game. Funny to see it admited by one of the ring leaders while he is cutting people off at the knees.
mathematic
(1,439 posts)Business speak he's just saying the company is investing in new, untested products and those products didn't pan out.
Wounded Bear
(58,647 posts)empedocles
(15,751 posts)bucolic_frolic
(43,133 posts)(Am recalling this from some book on US financial history that I'm sure I couldn't find again.) These were negotiable like money, you could sign them over to another and another. Of course there were forgeries, and eventually a bank couldn't pay out real money.
I can't wrap my head around what exactly Crypto is - currency, scrip, guarantee to pay. Do you pay in Crypto, or do you pay in dollars? Who would like to accept payment in a currency that's fluctuating wildly?
I just don't get it. I can't say I haven't tried. I know about mining, and energy use, and there are different bitcoins, and they are limited. But I see them like the Non Fungible Tokens. It's like a modern artist who can copy Monet's. Only the real thing is ever worth anything.
getagrip_already
(14,710 posts)you get an electronic token that you can exchange with other people, or just sit in a bank like coinbase. Each token costs a et amount based on what the market is doing that day. Mostly, they could only be exchanged for illegal goods.
There are no assets behind the coins. There is only the ability to sell them back to someone willing to buy them. You just hope that they are willing to pay more than you did.
That's why people say it's a ponzi game or gambling. There is no value in the "coins" themselves. The value relies on the bigger idiot theory, with new money coming in to pay off old debts. When the money stops coming in, everyone tries to sell and there is a crash.
Baked Potato
(7,733 posts)iemanja
(53,031 posts)They had issues with how the company was being run. It looks like he outright fired them today.