Coinbase Global (NASDAQ: COIN) jumped over 3.5% in pre session on Wednesday following the bankruptcy of a rival, FTX, earlier this month, investors abandoned cryptocurrency, which has caused the company’s bonds to plunge sharply and its shares to reach record lows.
According to Refinitiv data, the yields on the cryptocurrency exchange’s note due 2031, which move inversely to price, increased to 13.1% on Tuesday, down from its peak of 68.50 in August. In contrast, the 10-year U.S. Treasury bond’s yield was now trading at about 3.806%.
Investors’ growing concern about the creditworthiness of the cryptocurrency exchange was evident from the spike in Coinbase yield and its rising premium over the corresponding 10-year U.S. Treasury yield.
After reaching a record high of 15.78% on Friday, the yield on Coinbase’s notes due 2026 stood at 15.52% on Monday. On Monday, Moody’s Investors Service announced that it has reviewed downgrading Coinbase’s corporate family rating, which is now at Ba3. Baa3 and below are regarded as “junk” territory and extremely speculative. One step down from the top is Coinbase.
According to Moody’s, the demise of FTX has increased the amount of uncertainty in the cryptocurrency market, posing difficulties for everyone involved in the sector.
According to Moody’s Vice President and Senior Analyst Fadi Abdel Massih, the cryptocurrency exchange is expected to experience “an increased potential of prolonged declines in trading volumes and customer engagement that are crucial drivers for Coinbase’s income.”
The price of Coinbase’s shares has dropped by about 38% this month, and on Monday they reached a record low of $41.23. Their valuation is currently around one-tenth of what it was when they went public with a big announcement in New York in April 2021.
By lowering his base case prediction for Silvergate Capital to $51 per share on Tuesday from the $135 price he first started the company at, BTIG analyst Mark Palmer became the most recent analyst to downgrade his view for the cryptocurrency bank.
Palmer stated in a statement to customers that “our revised price objective incorporates our decreased projections for digital asset customer deposits on the Silvergate Exchange Network in the wake of FTX’s demise and amid the prolonged “crypto winter.”