Bitcoin is king of the crypto space. There is no denying that. Therefore, whichever way it goes – either up or down – other assets and blockchain-based entities are likely to follow. If bitcoin is in the green, others tend to do quite well, but if it is in the red, things are dropping like flies. Coinbase knows this all too well.
Coinbase Ain’t Doing So Hot
As one of the largest and most popular cryptocurrency exchanges in the western hemisphere, Coinbase made the decision to go public on the Nasdaq last month, thereby marking a huge change for the crypto industry. This would be the first time such an exchange would be traded in this way, and the results were quite staggering… At least at first.
Bitcoin, for example, rose to a new all-time high of nearly $65,000 per unit. Coinbase, itself, experienced great success and saw its stock initially trading for more than $300 per share, and at first glance, it looked like everything would go smoothly for a long time, though now, things have taken a turn for the worse. Bitcoin is sliding into oblivion, and unfortunately, Coinbase is going along for the ride.
Bitcoin is struggling heavily as of late, with the world’s biggest and most popular cryptocurrency by market cap dipping by close to $20,000 in just the last couple of weeks alone. At the time of writing, one unit of BTC is trading for just over $44,000, which is miles below its April high point.
Coinbase is experiencing a similar fate, with stock shares in the popular crypto exchange dipping by more than eight percent in just the last few days alone. It is estimated that stock prices have fallen by close to $100 each, and shares in Coinbase are currently going for about $238.
Other primary altcoins – such as Dogecoin and Ethereum – are experiencing heavy dips of their own, with these assets falling approximately four and five percent respectively at press time. Ethereum, which recently struck a new chord of approximately $4,000 per unit, is now trading for just under $3,200. That is a loss of more than $800 within a rather short timeframe.
Thanks, Elon!
The drop appears to have stemmed from recent words and actions made clear by Elon Musk, the man behind billion-dollar companies such as SpaceX and Tesla. Recently, Musk announced that his electric car venture would not be accepting BTC payments for products and services after all, and this sent the crypto space into a whirlwind. Musk cited concerns with the mining process for suspending his decision.
This action has seemingly sent the entire industry into a dark underworld that it is now struggling to rid itself of, though there is good news in that Coinbase is still reporting extremely high profit earnings for the first quarter of 2021.