- Crypto trading volumes at Coinbase rose 137% in October–December; at online broker Robinhood, 393%.
- Drivers included hopes for friendlier regulation after Donald Trump’s victory.
Trading volume on Coinbase in October–December surged to $439bn from $185bn in the prior quarter. Earnings per share came in at $4.31, 2.6 times the $1.81 consensus, according to Reuters.
Reuters cited Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election and hopes for a shift to more crypto-friendly oversight as key drivers.
In particular, Gary Gensler stepped down as chair of the SEC, having compared the industry to the “Wild West”. The contender for the role is Paul Atkins, who is positively disposed toward cryptocurrencies, the report noted.
“We are entering a golden age for digital assets. We have an unprecedented opportunity to upgrade the financial system and strengthen economic freedom around the world,” — said Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, commenting on the results.
Trading activity was also buoyed by higher volatility, rising prices and new listings.
Over the past three months, transaction revenue rose 172% to $1.56bn. Subscription and services revenue, which covers non-trading businesses, increased 15% to $641m.
Coinbase outlook
The community noted that Coinbase’s retail trading take rate was 35 times that for institutions. The figures were 1.43% and 0.037%, respectively.
coinbase take rates on retail crypto trading are insane — they made 35x more on retail relative to institutional trading
they took 1.43% from retail in q4 vs. 0.041% on institutional trading pic.twitter.com/MtrVLPamJD
— jay (@0xjaypeg) February 14, 2025
Strong quarterly results prompted JPMorgan to raise its fair-value estimate for the exchange’s shares from $400 to $475. On 13 February the stock closed up 8.4% at $298.1. Analysts kept an “outperform” rating.
JPMorgan expects the company to scale its operations several times over in the next five years thanks to a “favourable regulatory framework”.
Ava Labs president John Wu noted that, compared with Robinhood, Coinbase offers far more tradable tokens, as well as services such as staking and access to stablecoins.
He argues that to preserve market share, Coinbase will need to broaden its product line and diversify away from retail toward institutions.
Robinhood report
On 12 February, online broker Robinhood said crypto-trading revenue rose 487% quarter-on-quarter to $358m. The segment accounted for 53% of total revenue.
Digital-asset trading volume jumped 4.9-fold to $71bn.
The company added seven cryptocurrencies to its listings and launched Ethereum staking in the EU.
In June 2024, Robinhood agreed to acquire Bitstamp. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2025, subject to regulatory approval.
Earlier, Bernstein called the broker’s shares one of the most promising ideas in the CEX segment amid an expected wave of sector deregulation.
According to the platform’s CEO, Coinbase can be viewed as the 21st-largest bank in the United States.