The crypto exchange's CEO, Brian Armstrong, did admit that some Coinbase users' crypto assets may lack certain bankruptcy protections
That's from Brian Armstrong, chief executive and co-founder of cryptocurrency exchange platform Coinbase.
In a series of tweets Tuesday afternoon, Armstrong addressed a recent Coinbase 10-Q document filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that used language detailing risk factors with retail investors' crypto assets in the event that Coinbase files for bankruptcy -- to be clear, Armstrong reiterated that bankruptcy is not likely.
But if such a "black swan event," as Armstrong labeled it, ever occurred, some retail investors on the exchange may lose out on their crypto if a court deems those assets as part of the company in legal proceedings, he said.
"Because custodially held crypto assets may be considered to be the property of a bankruptcy estate, in the event of a bankruptcy, the crypto assets we hold in custody on behalf of our customers could be subject to bankruptcy proceedings and such customers could be treated as our general unsecured creditors," Coinbase wrote in the SEC filing
In a message on its website Wednesday, Coinbase tried to reassure users. "TLDR: Your funds on Coinbase are protected, secure, and yours," the company said. "You may have heard some noise recently about who owns your assets and what claims Coinbase creditors may have to them. The reality is that your assets are... your assets. Not ours or anyone else's."
As opposed to crypto, equities held by a registered brokerage like Charles Schwab$(SCHW)$ or Robinhood(HOOD) are legally separate from the assets of the brokerage, meaning they can't be seized in bankruptcy proceedings, according to reporting from The Wall Street Journal.
The news come as prices for many cryptocurrencies including bitcoin and ethereum are down over 30% over the past three months, highlighting a downward trend for digital assets.
Armstrong's tweets were posted the day before shares of Coinbase Global Inc. cratered on Wednesday after the company's earnings showed a slowdown in crypto trading.
"We tend to be able to acquire great talent during those periods and others pivot, they get distracted, they get discouraged," Armstrong said on Wednesday's earnings call. "So we tend to do our best work in a down period."
Shares of Coinbase were down 26.8% during Wednesday's trading. Coinbase stock is also down 75.1% over the past three months, compared to a 14% drop by the S&P 500 Index over the same period
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