Coinbase Stock Hits All-time Low as Markets Scream ‘Risk-off’

Coinbase stock is now worth as much as American Airlines after shedding 84% of its value so far this year

article-image

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong | Blockworks exclusive art by axel rangel

share

Coinbase stock took a beating Monday, setting a new low-price point after dropping 8% on the day toward the end of the trading session in New York as investors dial down crypto-related risk in the wake of FTX. 

Coinbase’s market capitalization is now about $9.4 billion — down 37% in November, so far, and a staggering 84% below where the once blue-chip equity started the year. The top US crypto exchange by trade volume is now valued practically on par with American Airlines and GoDaddy.

Spot and derivatives digital asset traders are still working to calculate contagion caused by the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto empire, once valued two-and-a-half times greater than where Coinbase now stands.

Owen Lau, an executive director at Oppenheimer & Co., told Blockworks Monday was shaping up as a “risk-off” day, with major indices trending downward, alongside bitcoin (BTC.) Bitcoin shed 4% by 3:00 pm ET, while the Nasdaq 100 dipped 1%.

“It drags down crypto related stocks such as Coinbase, which are still highly correlated to BTC,” Lau said. 

Additional bearish sentiment, according to Lau, could be resulting from word that the top 50 unsecured FTX creditors have $3.1 billion in claims.

Added Lau: “The second or third order contagion effect following the collapse of FTX continues to linger. Hard to predict the daily movement of the stock, but the contagion risk will likely add pressure on COIN near term.”

The total value of all digital assets has shrunk by almost 25% since FTX started to shake, representing about $254 billion in nominal losses. Crypto’s total capitalization is now $825 billion, per CoinGecko, almost 75% below its near-$3 trillion record high logged in November last year.

Bitcoin mining stocks have especially suffered — leading Marathon and Hut 8 have seen their share prices halve this month, while Riot, Bitfarms and Hive have sunk between 34% and 40%.

No love for Saylor, but Silvergate’s luck may turn around

Shares of MicroStrategy, the quasi-crypto-fund-slash-software-biz run by bitcoin bull Michael Saylor, fell a similar amount. MicroStrategy stock now trades for around  $152.20, its lowest point since June.

MicroStrategy’s balance sheet is weighed heavily by bitcoin, now trading at $15,600, levels not seen in more than one year.

But worse off still is crypto bank Silvergate, which services major US players, including exchanges Coinbase and Kraken, plus stablecoin issuer Circle. Silvergate stock fell another 5% before Monday’s close, bringing total losses this month to nearly 60%.

Investors have shown jitters around whether Silvergate could withstand a run on its reserves. FTX kept roughly $1 billion in deposits with Silvergate at the time of its insolvency, leaving analysts questioning the bank’s exposure to FTX’s already bitter bankruptcy.

Silvergate has moved to reassure customers and shareholders that its balance sheet remains liquid, with enough cash and equivalents to handle influxes of withdrawals.

Nerves have triggered at least one institutional crypto exchange in FalconX to avoid routing transfers through Silvergate’s SEN payment rails as the situation plays out. FalconX is instead opting for direct competitor Signature, which itself has only lost around 17% of its stock value this month. 

Mark Palmer, an analyst from global financial services firm BTIG, wrote in a recent research note that Silvergate stock is “very undervalued, especially relative to the company’s growth prospects given the key role that its banking infrastructure plays for crypto market participants.”

“We view SI’s SEN network as well-positioned to benefit from the institutional adoption of digital assets, and we continue to consider the company’s stablecoin initiative to be an interesting source of potential optionality,” Palmer said.

Wells Fargo analyst Jared Shaw, meanwhile, ​​upgraded the stock on Monday to an equal weight rating, indicating he believes a price floor may have been set after its most recent steep decline.


Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter.

Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. Subscribe to the Forward Guidance newsletter.

Get alpha directly in your inbox with the 0xResearch newsletter — market highlights, charts, degen trade ideas, governance updates, and more.

The Lightspeed newsletter is all things Solana, in your inbox, every day. Subscribe to daily Solana news from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.

Tags

Upcoming Events

Javits Center North | 445 11th Ave

Tues - Thurs, March 18 - 20, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

recent research

Unlocked Advisory-min.png

Research

This report distills Blockworks Advisory’s research on incentive programs and their analysis, offering a foundation for designing future initiatives and advancing industry-wide standards. By highlighting key lessons and methodologies, we aim to empower protocols to make informed, data-driven decisions.

article-image

The company did about 2.5 times the amount of crypto-backed collateral financing in November compared to the rest of 2024, exec says

article-image

Programmable yield, seamless swaps and decentralized control are the hallmarks of a new stablecoin model

article-image

Crypto is “really exciting,” former SEC Commissioner Paul Atkins said in a podcast interview last year

article-image

Bitcoin is now the “seventh most valuable asset in the world by market cap, just behind the likes of Google and Amazon,” GSR’s Brian Rudick said

article-image

Many analysts expected bitcoin to top $100K before year-end, though it’s been on a post-election tear

article-image

Will investors take a 10% lower return to get access to a regulated investment wrapper?