The crypto market continues to see a difficult environment, and more and more names in the space continue to face challenges. The two major cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin (BTC-USD) and Ethereum (ETH-USD), have dropped 10.3% and 14%, respectively, in the past seven days alone.
Furthermore, in the case of Celsius, crypto holders are seeing the double pain of a fall in the value of their holdings and not being able to transact on what remains.
Celsius Customers Continue to See Pain
Last month, Celsius halted withdrawals, swaps, and transfers on its platform. A number of crypto firms have taken similar steps on their platforms as well. The gloom will turn into dread if customers are never able to see their money ever again.
Babel Finance, CoinFlex, and Vauld have all taken actions to limit withdrawals by customers. In a further negative for Celsius, Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX walked away from a possible acquisition of Celsius. Meanwhile, Celsius continues to scout for options and has enlisted Citigroup (C) for help.
Coinbase Makes A New Move
In the meantime, Coinbase Global (COIN), which has seen its shares drop nearly 80.5% so far in 2022, has launched a derivatives product in an already difficult environment. The move is aimed at gaining ground in a new field.
COIN has acquired FairX, a derivatives exchange, for $330 million. COIN’s first offering is a futures contract on Bitcoin. According to the Wall Street Journal, the new product has seen a robust launch with 32,000 average daily volume.
Nonetheless, COIN faces an uphill task as the derivatives space already has a number of players, including Binance, Bybit, and CME.
Analysts’ Take
Needham’s John Todaro has reiterated a Buy rating on COIN but is less optimistic about the stock and has a price target of $89, which still implies an 81.48% potential upside.
The Street, in the meantime, has a Moderate Buy consensus rating on COIN alongside an average price target of $131.61, which implies a 168.37% potential upside.
Closing Note
The ripples from the fall of TerraLuna and Celsius’ troubles continue to reverberate in the broader crypto space. More pain may be expected in the coming periods as the geopolitical turmoil in Europe and the Fed’s aggressive stance continue unabated.
Read the full Disclosure
