Coinbase CEO Says Layer-2 Solutions Will Transform Crypto Industry
- Coinbase has enjoyed a stellar start to 2024, with its Q1 earnings call blowing 2023 figures out the park.
- Although earnings appeared great on face value, investors weren’t as impressed and Coinbase’s stock fell 3% in the days following.
- Meanwhile, CEO Brian Armstrong spoke strongly about the performance of Coinbase’s L2 venture, Base, and its impact on the industry.
Coinbase is one of the crypto industry’s biggest players – and as one of very few public companies in this space, earnings calls mean a bit more than usual. In a letter to shareholders, Coinbase outlined its Q1 2024 financial performance, which produced some encouraging figures.
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Armstrong Hot on Base as 3-Month Earnings Outperform Entirety of 2023
Much like the rest of the crypto sphere (prior to the past fortnight’s downtrend), Coinbase got off to a hot start in 2024. The company raked in US$1.6B (AU$2.42B) in total revenue, which resulted in an EBITDA of US$1B (AU$1.5B). What’s most impressive of all is that these numbers were greater than what Coinbase achieved throughout the entirety of 2023 – and it’s only been three months.
Despite the strong earnings report, Coinbase share price is trading 3% lower over the weekend and is down 13% this month.
Moving away from the financial figures, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong took the earnings call as an opportunity to spruik the company’s major advances in the industry. In particular, Armstrong emphasised the importance of the team’s Layer 2 venture, Base, in improving mainstream adoption.
Base is one of the most effective L2 solutions on the market. The chain is extremely efficient, boasting sub-second finality for transactions while often keeping gas costs under a cent. This makes it a viable building block for developers, while also making it enjoyable and accessible for the average DeFi user. Armstrong also noted that Base’s network activity is double that of Ethereum’s main chain, pointing toward a stronger appetite for L2s than in the past.
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Base is one of several scaling solutions that are transforming Ethereum from a congested cesspit (okay, maybe a little harsh) into the thriving ecosystem it was meant to be.