Coinbase becomes the first crypto company to join the list of Fortune 500 companies

Leading US-based crypto exchange, Coinbase has become the first crypto company to make it to the list of the Fortune 500 companies, an annual list of America’s largest companies by revenue. Coinbase ranks at position 437 in the Fortune 500 companies for 2022.

The development comes despite the current challenges facing Coinbase that have largely been brought about by a bearish market. The Fortune ranked companies based on their 2021 revenue when Coinbase performed quite well.

The revenue threshold for the 2022 Fortune 500 list was $6.4 billion and Coinbase’s revenue for 2021 was $7.8 billion. The threshold was 16% higher compared to the previous year’s limit.

2022 Coinbase performance

2022 has so far not been very rosy for Coinbase. It has posted net revenue of $1.16 billion in its first quarter with a net loss of $430 million. In comparison, Coinbase had posted a revenue of $2.49 billion in the fourth quarter of 2021.

The poor performance of Coinbase in the first fiscal quarter is because of a drop in the trading volumes across crypto exchanges because of the recent crypto price plunge.

As a result Mizuho Securities recently revised its estimates for Coinbase’s full-year 2022 revenue downwards to $5.6 billion from a previous estimate of $6.7 billion.

Coinbase shares are currently trading close to all-time lows at $66 and they have dropped to as low as $40 this month. They have dropped by over 88% from their debut price which was above $328.

As a result of the current turbulent market, Coinbase’s CEO and president, Emilie Choi, recently pointed out that the company will slow hiring.

Choi said:

“Heading into this year, we planned to triple the size of the company. Given current market conditions, we feel it’s prudent to slow hiring and reassess our headcount needs against our highest-priority business goals,”

Choi however assured investors that Coinbase has a strong position and its balance sheet was solid noting that Coinbase has been through several market downturns and emerged stronger every time.

It will be interesting to watch how the crypto exchange performs this year and whether it will make it to the Fortune 500 list in 2023.