Despite recording big earnings and beating analyst estimates, Coinbase believes 2022 will continue to have a fair amount of uncertainty for crypto businesses. This is evident in the market slump which has been driven by Russia’s military actions in Ukraine.
Brian Armstrong, the CEO of Coinbase, warned stakeholders that 2022 has a number of unknowns which makes crypto businesses all the more difficult to forecast. He highlighted the global macroeconomic headwinds, bitcoin, and cryptocurrency volatility, as well as the rising inflation and interest rates.
In the midst of all these, Coinbase also sees increased opportunities and the adoption of cryptocurrency. Alesia Haas, the CFO at Coinbase, hopes investors take into account the ways they are diversifying the platform. The crypto exchange is launching the NFT platform. It should be noted that NFT prices and volume are less correlated with other cryptocurrencies.
Coinbase has seen major gains in revenue. Its rate jumped back up to 1.23% in the fourth quarter after dropping to 1.1% in the third quarter. However, the platform wasn’t expecting an upbeat outlook. In a letter to shareholders, Coinbase highlighted 2022 as the year of unknowns making the business difficult to forecast.
The platform forecasted a 10% decline in crypto asset volatility. The overall market was down 20% in prices this quarter. Analysts highlighted lower retail trading volume. They noted that monthly transacting users are down from the fourth quarter, down to 10 million users in the first quarter. Coinbase says the platform has less near-term visibility. It said its too early to provide a more precise range.
