Proactive Investors - Bitcoin (BTC) was on the move again this Friday, adding 0.8% against the US dollar following a late-Thursday retreat.
As of 11.30am London time, the BTC/USD pair was swapping for $52,279, around one percent below yesterday’s intraday higher.
Despite being knocked lower amid a bit of profit-taking, bitcoin remains in a buoyant position when taking a wider view of the market, with year-on-year gains above 110%.
Bitcoin’s ETF-linked rally has had a positive knock-on effect on Nasdaq-listed cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global Inc (NASDAQ:COIN).
Coinbase’s fourth-quarter revenues doubled sequentially, helping the exchange post a tidy profit of $1.04 per share, trouncing analyst estimates of around $0.02 per share.
The results came at the cost of mass team layoffs though, with chief executive Brian Armstrong telling investors the group slashed costs by 45% in 2023 while managing to “ship product faster with a lean team”.
Armstrong touted Coinbase’s role in the regulatory approval of spot-bitcoin exchange-traded funds in the US last month, a move that has lit a fire under bitcoin’s value.
Coinbase was selected as the custodian in eight of the 11 approved products, he reminded investors.
“This will unlock new pools of capital to flow into the crypto space with Coinbase playing a key role here. We're earning revenue, not just on custody, but also on trading and financing.”
One curious aspect of Coinbase’s full-year earnings was the notable decline in transaction revenues, from $2.36 billion in 2022 to $1.52 billion in 2023.
Offsetting this was a surge in stablecoin revenues and blockchain rewards generated from staking services.
Coinbase shares are expected to open 12% higher when markets open today.
Back on the crypto markets, Ethereum (ETH) added 1.7% against the US dollar on Thursday and another 0.3% this morning, bringing the ETH/USD pair to a 21-month high of $2,867.
BNB, Cardano (ADA) and Avalanche (AVAX) have added double digits to the market capitalisations over the past week, while Dogecoin (DOGE) is trailing with 6% added.
Global cryptocurrency market capitalisation currently stands at $1.96 trillion, with bitcoin dominance at 53.8%