DIAR: Coinbase's trading volumes have hit their lowest point in a year

Cryptocurrency exchanges have seen their trading volumes plummet in 2018, according to research out by Diar. 

On Coinbase, total volumes for bitcoin trading equalled $5.4 billion in Q3 2018, down from $24 billion in Q4 2017, according to Diar. At the same time, ether trading volumes were down from $8.7 billion to $2.8 billion, over the same time period. Across assets, Coinbase's turnover in Q3 2018 hit a one-year low. 

Despite the bear market, last week Coinbase was working on closing a fundraising round to raise up to $500 million, a source close to the situation told The Block. Recode first reported the fundraise, which could value the company at $8 billion. 

Rivals Gemini and Bitstamp have also seen their volumes decline by a similar amount, Diar's research showed. 

As for Coinbase, the firm has been hiring at a fast clip since the beginning of 2018. As Business Insider reported, the firm surpassed 500 staff this year. It has brought on a number of Wall Street heavy-weights as part of its hiring efforts, including Instinet CEO Jonathan Kellner. 

Elsewhere in the market, other crypto firms are struggling to maintain their headcount. Kraken, for instance, slashed one of its unit by 10%, as per Bloomberg News reporting. And Coinfloor, the UK-based crypto exchange, has also fired a number of people, according to the Financial News. 

Bloomberg reported in March that crypto exchanges were making money hand-over-fist, with the top 10 generating as much as $3 million in trading fees per day. 

Read more of The Block's exclusive reporting

• Despite regulatory cold water, the list of crypto ETF hopefuls grows

• A slew of Wall Street giants are getting behind an upstart exchange looking to launch a suite of crypto futures, and it could be a big rival to Bakkt

Update: A previous version of this post referred to Jonathan Kellner as Instinet's former CEO. He is still serving as the firm's CEO. He'll join Coinbase in 2019.