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Coinbase's stock has hit its lowest price since the company went public last year, with COIN falling 87.04% to $35.00, compared to $268.15 on December 21, 2021, according to Yahoo! Finance.
While tech stocks have taken an overall beating in 2022, Coinbase is unusual as a publicly traded company whose primary business is cryptocurrency—a select cohort that includes Block Inc. (formerly Square) and crypto mining companies Core Scientific and Riot Blockchain.
Despite COIN being down, however, Cathie Wood, Chief Investment Officer and Portfolio Manager of Ark Invest, bought another 297,000 shares of Coinbase Stock worth $11.9 million last week. The investment fund currently holds 6,139,480 Coinbase shares worth $246.7 million.
In June, Coinbase initiated a hiring freeze and began pulling job offers for new hires. Then in July, Coinbase laid off 1,100 employees, or 18% of its staff, as the crypto bear market kept its grip on the industry.
At the time, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said in a company post that rapidly changing economic conditions and the potential of a recession were factors in the decision to cut staff, explaining that the company needed to prepare for the worst.
Coinbase CEO @brian_armstrong announced today the difficult decision to reduce the size of the Coinbase team by 18%. More details and rationale in Brian’s email to employees, which has been made public for all to see ➡️ https://t.co/SpdZU3KdpS
— Coinbase (@coinbase) June 14, 2022
While its stock may be down, Coinbase remains optimistic about the future, taking to Twitter last week to share images of innovations many doubted would succeed, including the telephone, car, and elevators.
"For every technology game-changer, there are millions of doubters. Tune out the noise and keep building," the company tweeted.
For every technology game-changer, there are millions of doubters. Tune out the noise and keep building. pic.twitter.com/UKdFRitGdq
— Coinbase (@coinbase) December 16, 2022
Publicly traded Bitcoin mining company Core Scientific has also seen its stock plummet in 2022. The company's stock, CORZ, began the year trading at $10.06. By December 1, 2022, the stock was trading at $0.22, a 97% drop.