Coinbase, PayPal and Other Bitcoin-Exposed Stocks Battered by Crash

By Jeff John Roberts

A massive sell-off in the crypto markets, which has seen Bitcoin briefly dip below $30,000, has also triggered collateral damage to the stock price of public companies with high exposure to crypto markets.

While overall share prices are sagging amid general market turmoil, the carnage has been especially brutal for the likes of Coinbase, PayPal, and Block (formerly Square), all of which are heavily invested in the future of crypto.

While the NASDAQ index is down around 5.5% over the past five days, the equivalent figure for Coinbase is an eye-watering drop of 35%. Shares of the crypto industry's flagship public company were trading around $80 on Tuesday morning—less than half of what COIN shares fetched in early April, and a far cry from the all-time high of around $350.

Meanwhile, PayPal shares are down over 11% in the past five days while Block is down nearly 20%. As for MicroStrategy—the cyber-security firm whose CEO made a series of large Bitcoin purchases—its price has dropped a painful 37% since last week.

And unsurprisingly, the share price of other companies that are purely crypto-focused like Coinbase are performing dismally. Trading giant Galaxy Digital is down 25% over five days, while shares of Bakkt—a firm that aspires to provide a Wall Street-like crypto experience—are bounding near $2.50, which is a 30% drop over five days.

These companies could experience a further jolt later on Tuesday when Coinbase reports its first quarter earnings. The company is expected to post lower earnings than previous quarters due to a fall-off in trading volumes in recent months—a situation that most analysts and investors have already priced in.

But if Coinbase misses already lower expectations, or predicts negative guidance for the future, its stock could go into a further tail spin—and possibly drag the share price of other crypto-exposed companies down with it.

Update: Coinbase did indeed post disappointing earnings, driving the company's share price down another 14% after hours to around $62.

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