Open but not ready
CoinMarketCap was purchased by Binance post 2017 crypto winter. But this bear market is not the time to sell a company stated Bobby Ong the COO of CoinGecko.
The company is open to being acquired but the timing is not right.
Just like many other companies CoinGecko has been hit by the current bear market and Mr. Ong believes in the cyclical nature of the industry. The team at CoinGecko is focused on improving the platform and becoming stronger after surviving this current bear market.
The traffic of CoinGecko has seen an 85% decrease since the beginning of this bull run and has been in line with the price movement of Bitcoin. When Bitcoin was at its highest so was the traffic on CoinGecko. July saw the monthly page views at 100 million which is far lower than the peak in November of 2021. Traffic is one of the major avenues of revenue for the site, Ong stated that new token listings have also dropped about 70% from the peak of listings offered last year.
The market is low but that has not hindered CoinGecko from continuing in their mission. Recently, the company has hired more staff increasing the number working for the company from 30 to 57, there have been no lay-offs or hiring freezes. On top of that small bonuses were paid to team members during the first half of 2022 and salaries are being reviewed to be more competitive.
The biggest rival to CoinMarketCap, CoinGecko has been approached multiple times for acquisition by exchanges, venture capitalists and angel investors but the company at the time had still chosen to retain their independence opting for autonomy instead of quick profit. The current climate has somewhat changed that view as CoinGecko is considering a sale one day.
Ong suspects that more tokens will come and at that time there will be a need for a reliable source to track all of those tokens. The company has a mission statement that involves empowering the decentralized future by being the foundational infrastructure to help people get the information they need on the tokens listed in the future.
Some may see the bear market as a time for survival, Ong sees it as a time to focus on building great products.