‘Cryptopocalypse’—Coinbase CEO Issues Serious ‘Contagion’ Warning After Bitcoin And Ethereum Price Crash

Bitcoin
BTC
, ethereum and other major cryptocurrencies are deep in a brutal so-called crypto winter, with around $2 trillion wiped from the market this year (and possibly a $65 billion earthquake just around the corner).

Subscribe now to Forbes’ CryptoAsset & Blockchain Advisor and successfully navigate the latest bitcoin and crypto market crash

The bitcoin price has crashed under $17,000 per bitcoin, down from almost $70,000 late last year, while the ethereum price has seen a similar sell-off—sparking serious problems for some of the biggest crypto companies.

Now, Brian Armstrong, the chief executive of one of the world’s largest bitcoin and crypto exchanges Coinbase
COIN
has warned there could be further fallout from the collapse of rival exchange FTX in the months to come, despite a wave of bullish 2023 bitcoin price predictions.

Want to stay ahead of the market and understand the latest crypto news? Sign up now for the free CryptoCodexA daily newsletter for traders, investors and the crypto-curious

“I think there could be a little more contagion from FTX, but my hope is that [everything moves] through the system in the next couple of months, or quarters at most,” Armstrong told Axios in an interview, comparing the panic caused by FTX’s meltdown to the collapse of bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox in 2014. “After 18 months people moved on and nobody asked me about it after that.”

The fallout from the shock FTX implosion last month has already plunged some of the world’s biggest crypto companies into crisis, with fears still swirling that other major companies and cryptocurrencies are teetering on the brink of collapse.

Crypto lender BlockFi followed FTX into bankruptcy last month, raising questions over how many other crypto companies could suffer from FTX contagion. Earlier this year, the sudden meltdown of the terraUSD so-called algorithmic stablecoin and its support coin luna wiped out crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital as well as crypto lenders Voyager and Celsius
CEL
.

The Coinbase share price has fallen along with the bitcoin, ethereum and crypto market this year, crashing by almost 90% over the course of 2023 as traders abandon crypto trading platforms, though Armstrong remains upbeat.

Sign up now for CryptoCodex—A free, daily newsletter for the crypto-curious

MORE FROM FORBES‘Historic Moment’-Leak Reveals Shock Binance CEO Prediction After FTX Bitcoin And Ethereum Price Crash

“The bull case for Coinbase is we’re the leader in the market from a trust point of view and the largest [exchange] in the U.S.,” Armstrong said. “The market is giving us very clear feedback that they want to work with trusted companies if they’re going to be centralized actors.”

This year’s “cryptopocalypse” and “inflationary pressures” were named as two of the biggest trends of 2022 by a survey of restructuring professionals polled by Petition.

Inflation, which has rocketed to 40-year highs this year, has forced the Federal Reserve into a brutal series of interest rate hikes this year, pushing down prices across the board—and potentially into 2023.

BlackRock
BLK

BLK
, the world’s largest asset manager, has warned the Federal Reserve won’t “ride to the rescue” in 2023, while equity valuations that have moved in tandem with crypto prices “don’t yet reflect the damage ahead.”


Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*