Coinbase exchange’s rapid rise left it exposed in Crypto winter
Brian Armstrong, an early enthusiast of blockchain technology, built the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global Inc. (COIN) to be a big company. He hired personnel by the hundreds, pushed into new geographies and scaled up the number of digital coins available on the platform. Coinbase exchange became the largest cryptocurrency exchange in United States and went public in spring of 2021 with a market capitalization of nearly $86 billion. This year’s cryptocurrency winter has dropped that value to roughly $21 billion. And it has left Mr. Armstrong to struggle with an expansive business now faced with huge expenses, falling cash and, more recently, a challenge from federal regulatory bodies. Adam Dell, chief executive of Domain Money, an app that allows investors to buy investments including cryptocurrency and is a Coinbase exchange competitor said that “ Coinbase expanded wildly before it got its sea legs. They grew so fast that it got away from them.” Almost every cryptocurre