CoinShares' Losses From Terra's Slide Hit $21.4M

Liquidating the digital asset firm's position was a "humbling lesson," the CEO said.

AccessTimeIconMay 31, 2022 at 3:24 p.m. UTC
Updated May 11, 2023 at 6:55 p.m. UTC

CoinShares, which says it's Europe’s largest digital asset firm, recorded an "exceptional" loss of GBP17 million ($21.4 million) from its exposure to Terra's UST token, the firm said in its annual report posted Monday.

  • "We have booked an exceptional loss from our DeFi activities of £17m on liquidating our holding in UST," the firm's CEO Jean-Marie Mognetti said in the report, adding that it was a "humbling lesson."
  • For all of 2021, CoinShares' net loss widened to GBP2.4 billion from GBP1.4 billion, even as revenue jumped more than fourfold to GBP80.8 million, figures prepared according to international financial reporting standards (IFRS) show.
  • The net figure was attributable mainly to a loss on financial instruments. The Saint Helier, Jersey-based company noted that under IFRS gains on digital assets are not shown on the income statement.
  • Most of the revenue came from management fees for its exchange-trade products, which are issued by subsidiaries XBT Provider and CoinShares Digital Securities. Soaring crypto prices drove the increase in revenue, the report said.
  • Whilst retail investment has remained strong, bigger investors have divested from XBT provider products, with outflows reaching $341 million, CoinShares said.

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Eliza Gkritsi

Eliza Gkritsi is a CoinDesk contributor focused on the intersection of crypto and AI.