Stocks traded mixed Wednesday afternoon, with traders digesting a slew of earnings results from big banks that largely topped expectations. The Dow set a fresh intraday record high as shares of Goldman Sachs advanced after the company reported better-than-expected quarterly results. The S&P 500 erased earlier gains to trade lower, after the index jumped to record intraday and closing highs on Tuesday. The Nasdaq briefly broke back above 14,000 before turning slightly negative, with technology shares giving back some of Tuesday's gains as Treasury yields advanced. Wilmington Trust Senior Economist, Rhea Thomas and Quent Capital’s Gregg Fisher.

Video Transcript

JEFF JOHN ROBERTS: Oh, I think it's probably pretty par for the course. I mean this seems to be happening with every IPO. There's froth, it pops. It falls down again. I mean, I think the expectations are so absurdly sky high. And Coinbase is kind of responsible for that by putting out this first quarter earnings right before going public. And so I think the appetite and the froth is ridiculous. But I think the where it's settled is about where I think a lot of people would have predicted.

ADAM SHAPIRO: I would love that as a headline, absurdly sky high. There was a guest on with Brian Sozzi early this morning who said that, look, Coinbase may be something right now, but they face competition that will make them yesterday's news. I mean, what's to prevent a Goldman or someone else opening up an exchange to compete?

JEFF JOHN ROBERTS: Yeah, the bears are throwing that around a lot, and there's something to it. I mean, I think it's kind of worrying that 94% of their profit, or I think maybe revenue, is from trading commissions. I mean, that's not sustainable, especially since we've seen commissions in trading become sort of a commodity in other fields and equities. But I think people underestimate how long the runway is. I mean, this stuff is harder to do. It's harder to stand up a full-blown blown crypto exchange than it is to set up a stock trading platform.

So, and in the meantime, I think-- you know, and they're developing their other revenue streams to custody and all the rest of it. They're going to dabble in NFTs, I think. And longer term. I mean, I think the end game is one day, they're anticipating every stock will trade as a token. Like, Walmart stock will trade on a blockchain. Question is that going to be, like, in two years or five years or 10 years? And that's, I think, where they want to be. But you're right. I think they're in a race against time to show they're more than a one trick pony.

SEANA SMITH: Jeff, you've profiled Coinbase. What can you tell us just about the company's culture there during, I guess, what you learned while writing the book?

JEFF JOHN ROBERTS: They're interesting. I mean, companies are defined a lot by their CEOs. I mean, you know, Facebook is Mark Zuckerberg. Amazon is Jeff Bezos. And Brian Armstrong is just a very odd dude. He does not like press. He does not like the limelight. He's incredibly introverted, which is sort of unusual. And I think his judgment has been suspect a few times, like the thing "The Times" reported on, you know, putting out that letter saying, you know, you have issues with politics, don't work here in the middle of Black Lives Matter. That was pretty unforced error, picking fights with "New York Times"-- not a good idea.

But that said, I think people underestimate him. You don't get to be the CEO of a company that goes public at $100 million for $100 billion if you don't know what you're doing. So it's an introverted culture. It's a workaholic culture. And I think they do, like the rest of crypto and finance, generally struggle with diversity, and to try to translate how their products can be inclusive to more people than a bunch of, like, white and Asian dudes in their 20s and 30s.

ADAM SHAPIRO: I want to flip the question I asked you around. So-- because it was based on that Sozzi interview this morning. But what's to prevent Coinbase from expanding and being a threat to already established exchanges or platforms that might want to go in this direction?

JEFF JOHN ROBERTS: That's a terrific question. And I mean, I think you're right. I think it's Coinbase's to lose. And their infrastructure, if you look at, like, the next era of stock trading and markets as being defined by blockchain, I mean, they're in a pole position. So I mean, barring major screw-ups or regulatory trouble, I think they're in a good place.

One weakness, though, they have is they don't have clout in DC. I mean, the banks are all very good at protecting their turf, protecting their interests. And just like Silicon Valley 10 years ago, we're kind of above the political fray. That's where the crypto industry is now. And I can also see sort of some of the incumbents doing dirty tricks in Washington to kind of try to kneecap Coinbase and other crypto players.

SEANA SMITH: Jeff, right now, crypto market cap, it topped out just over $2 trillion. What's the size of the opportunity in this space? Are we just scratching the surface?

JEFF JOHN ROBERTS: Mm, I think kind of long term, yeah. I mean, I think there's the saying I like in tech that people overestimate the short-term impact of technology and underestimate the long-term. That was the case with the internet, like, in the late '90s. And I think that is with crypto right now. A lot of what we're seeing right now has to be a bubble. I mean, there's prices like Dogecoin-- or I mean Litecoin. What's the point of Litecoin? Why is it worth that? So a lot of the stuff is just kind of dumb money sloshing around. And as in 2017, I think we're due for a pop, you know, or a pop of the bubble, I should say. And but in the longer term, I think this will prevail.

ADAM SHAPIRO: My computer froze. I apologize. I'm cheering what you're saying because you're speaking so directly about-- when you call this a bubble, I'm not sure if crypto is a bubble, but things like NFT, that's where the money is. But where's the value? I mean, a digital image that I can replicate 1,000 times at no expense with no licensing, what good is that to anybody?

JEFF JOHN ROBERTS: That's above my pay grade. I mean, I'm not an art critic. I agree with you. You know, I think there's that cartoon going around. Everyone's listening to a song, and there's some nerd in the corner, going, you know, don't they know I own the NFT to this? You know, so I think-- but, you know, I don't think it's going to go away.

You know, NFTs aren't brand new. They've been around since, like, 2016. And I think there's a there, there. But again, they're going to-- the bubble is going to pop. They'll probably be-- a lot of it's going to be garbage that's never worth anything. But then certain specific stuff, maybe sports memorabilia, maybe art, something, is going to have some lasting value is my prediction. But in the short term, I think a bunch of people are going to take a beating.

SEANA SMITH: Jeff John Roberts, executive editor of Decrypt, thank you so much for taking the time to join us here on Yahoo Finance. We look forward to hopefully having you back here again soon.