In brief
- Coinbase will add Dogecoin in the next few weeks
- CEO Brian Armstrong announced the news on an earnings call
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong declared on Thursday that the company would add the popular novelty cryptocurrency Dogecoin in the near future.
"We plan to list DOGE in the next six to eight weeks," said Armstrong on an earnings call following the company's formal release of its first quarter earnings.
The Dogecoin announcement came in response to a query from a crypto user named Jordi Y who had asked about it on a Reddit-style forum where Coinbase had solicited questions from its shareholders. The forum invited others to "upvote" questions, and the Dogecoin one proved most popular.
Dogecoin has been on a roller-coaster ride of late, peaking shortly before Tesla CEO Elon Musk (and his mom Maye Musk) name-dropped it on Saturday Night Live; it has slumped badly since.
Robinhood Overwhelmed by Dogecoin Selloff After SNL Mention
For weeks, Dogecoin holders have been looking forward to Elon Musk hosting Saturday Night Live, anticipating that the token's most famous fan would use his appearance to promote the coin. Though he (and his mom) mentioned token several times throughout the course of the show, it didn't send the price up as many hoped. Instead, the price of Dogecoin, the fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, cratered. Before the show, it was priced at $0.66, near all-time highs. During the course of the sh...
On the earnings call, Armstrong also noted that the crypto economy is adding "more and more assets," and likened the process of adding new cryptocurrencies to the process of adding apps to an app store.
Another popular question on the forum concerned Coinbase's view of decentralized exchanges (DEXs). Armstrong said the company is "very excited" about decentralized finance (DeFi), but offered few details about Coinbase's specific strategy.
7 Lessons From Coinbase's Public Listing
Well, that was fun. In a decade of covering crypto, we can’t recall a week like that one. Coinbase (COIN) hit the public markets on Wednesday and triggered wall-to-wall media coverage, including flattering feature stories in outlets that usually treat Bitcoin like a dirty word, and hot takes a-plenty on business TV and social media. The debut price of $381 shredded the Nasdaq-selected reference price of $250. Shares shot as high as $430, letting Coinbase enjoy a brief moment as a “centacorn”...
In response to a question on the forum about Coinbase's fees, which are higher than some exchanges, CFO Alesia Haas said, "We're not trying to win on fees. We're not trying to compete on fees. We're competing on being the most trusted."
Thursday's earnings call was highly unusual in that companies typically read from a prepared script and then solicit calls from Wall Street analysts. Coinbase's approach—first soliciting questions posted on a public forum—is novel, but consistent with Armstrong's self-proclaimed quest to democratize finance. The company did field calls from analysts after first responding to the most popular forum questions.
The call included a number of other notable remarks, including CFO Haas noting that Coinbase intended to spend 12-15% of its net revenue on advertising. She also acknowledged that the company has been "moving slower than we would like on the international front."
Armstrong added that he has been spending time in Washington, DC, to improve the regulatory situation for crypto. And in response to an analyst question about popular future uses for crypto, Armstrong cited NFTs and "ad platforms" as possible contenders.
This story was updated several time to include further details from the call.
