A more idiotic moment is hard to come by: Amidst the crisis, Coinbase releases a movie based on Bored Ape Yacht Club

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase tweeted out the first part of its movie featuring characters from the NFT collection Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC). The film is called The Degen Trilogy. Coinbase announced plans for a trilogy in mid-April and has now unveiled the first part, RUN THE CHAIN.

What did we get?

It’s a five-minute film that features the NFT collection Bored Ape Yacht Club and the Ethereum-based ApeCoin token, which has become an important component of the BAYC ecosystem.

Coinbase said that users who want to see their BAYC collection tokens in its film’s second and third parts must register on the Coinbase NFT trading platform. 

And why did we get it?

Perhaps this marketing move is due to the fact that after its launch, the new NFT platform from Coinbase failed to attract a sufficient number of users. According to Dune Analytics, its trading volume is about 2,000 times less than that of the most popular platform, OpenSea, and also half that of the newcomer GameStop.

The first part of Coinbase’s trilogy was published days after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) opened an investigation into Coinbase executives. The agency accused them of trading digital assets that are considered securities. The regulator’s accusations contributed to Coinbase’s stock dropping even further. Panicked sell-offs from key investors followed, such as the sale of a large stake from Ark Invest that led to a 20% plunge in the company’s capitalization.

Goldman Sachs analysts have already downgraded Coinbase to “Sell” status. Things seem to be getting worse and worse for the exchange.

So how does Coinbase respond? Recently, the largest crypto exchange in the U.S. started drawing cartoons and made its first release. 

What do people think?

The community’s opinion is divided. Some think that the Coinbase video is a good idea that somehow distracts the public’s attention from its many problems, but most are convinced that a more idiotic moment for the movie’s release is hard to come by.

As one Twitter user wrote ironically, attaching a timeline of the company’s stock collapse:

Great situational awareness and timing to drop this today! SEC probably laughing at them behind closed doors

Coinbase’s marketplace volumes continue to decline rapidly, with the company spending money to create bizarre content. Another Twitter user commented on this weirdness: 

Hahaha we spent $300 million on an NFT Marketplace that did zero volume… so here’s a $30 million video that everyone will hate… if y’all was wondering why the stonk dumped… this is the real reason.

The style and implementation of the video is also often disputed:

Wtf is this? Who is the audience? I’m a die hard degen and I couldn’t watch the entirety of this cringe. Sorry? Uhhh yeah okay bye

Other users argue that the company did not do anything special:

Coinbase is, and has always been, a joke.

What do we think about this?

Because of the absurdity of what is going on, it is difficult to draw any sensible conclusion. But we will try.

All in all, we can summarize that Coinbase is drowning in a huge amount of hate from users. The shares are falling, key shareholders abandon the company, and trading volumes are gradually fading (some divisions, such as NFT, are close to zero). And if that’s not enough, an investigation into insider trading is open. Who knows what will happen to this company tomorrow? Maybe a fire in the company’s data centers will organically complete the company’s recent image.

 

The release of the cartoon in the background of all this horror is probably some overly thoughtful message of the crypto exchange to the market. Which no one yet seems to have understood.