05.03.2024

Coinbase Institutional Transaction Revenue Rises 133%

05.03.2024
Coinbase Institutional Transaction Revenue Rises 133%

From Coinbase Q1 shareholder letter:

Our financial performance in Q1 reflects our focused execution on product expansion, ongoing operational discipline, and strong crypto market conditions. We generated $1.6 billion of total revenue and $1.2 billion of net income*. Adjusted EBITDA was $1.0 billion – more than we generated in all of 2023.

Additionally, we made meaningful progress against our 2024 priorities of driving revenue, utility, and regulatory clarity. Our market share in US spot and derivatives increased, we reached all-time highs on Coinbase Prime, and USDC market capitalization increased. Coinbase One adoption remains strong, and our international business was a larger contributor to our growth.

Q1 results reflect our investments in product expansion, continued operational discipline, and strong market conditions; we generated $1.6 billion in total revenue, $1.2 billion in net income, and $1.0 billion in Adjusted EBITDA.

We have long discussed crypto asset price cycles and crypto asset volatility – two important factors that influence our trading volume1 and transaction revenue. Throughout much of 2022 and 2023, both crypto asset volatility and crypto asset prices declined, following all-time high levels in 2021, in part driven by a significant change in macroeconomic conditions and the failure of several prominent crypto trading venues and lending platforms in 2022. In Q1, crypto asset volatility2 increased sharply, but remained well below all-time high levels. In terms of crypto asset prices, crypto market capitalization reached a 52-week high of approximately $2.8 trillion in Q1. While we cannot attribute the increase in market capitalization to a specific driver, we believe this increase was influenced by a variety of factors, such as the launch of the bitcoin ETFs which experienced over $11 billion in net inflows so far in 2024.

Institutional Transaction Revenue


Q1 institutional transaction revenue was $85 million, up 133% Q/Q. Institutional trading volume was $256 billion, up 105% Q/Q, also outperforming the US spot market.  Our institutional platform, Coinbase Prime, hit all-time highs in trading volume and the number of active clients in Q1. During the last bull run, Coinbase primarily offered custody capabilities, but now, with our Prime platform, we offer custody, trading, financing, and staking to institutional customers. The bitcoin ETFs – combined with strong market conditions in Q1 – unlocked a flywheel of customer engagement across this more robust product suite. In fact, nearly 40% of institutional clients engaged with at least 3 products in Q1.

Coinbase Prime


In Q1, we continued to see meaningful growth in our institutional business through Coinbase Prime. We believe growth was driven largely due to positive market momentum, in part fueled by the launch of bitcoin ETFs, which have experienced over $11 billion in net inflows so far in 2024. Coinbase experienced an outsized return based on the product innovation we made during the down market. Initially focused on custody, Coinbase Prime now delivers a comprehensive suite of services that includes custody, trading, staking, and financing. This expansion has created a flywheel of engagement across our product suite – helping drive record highs in trading volumes and active clients in Q1.

Derivatives through the Coinbase International Exchange and Coinbase Financial Markets (CFM)

We have made considerable strides in both the US through CFM and on a global scale via the Coinbase International Exchange. While still in the early stages, these products have shown promising growth. Our strategic focus on building liquidity has been effective, as trading volume and market share both grew in Q1. In Q1, the Coinbase International Exchange reached $76 billion in notional volume traded, aided by the addition of 15 new perpetual future listings. The now 30 perpetual futures contracts currently listed on the Coinbase International Exchange provide access to 80% of the estimated total perpetual futures volume globally. We further enhanced our derivatives offerings by increasing the available leverage and limits on the Coinbase International Exchange and increasing available limits on CFM.

Coinbase Continues to Go Deeper in International Markets

Our efforts to grow our business internationally have yielded good results, with international revenue growing to approximately 17% of total revenue in Q1 driven by transaction revenue growth. In April 2024, we became registered as a Restricted Dealer by the Canadian Securities Administrators, making Coinbase the largest and first international cryptocurrency exchange registered in Canada. We believe our international success can be attributed to a series of targeted initiatives that we built upon during the down market – enhancing banking connections, securing new licenses, expanding our product range to cater to local preferences, and tailoring our services to meet the distinct regulatory and cultural needs of each region – coupled with favorable market conditions.

The full letter can be read here

Source: Coinbase

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