Coinbase total revenues fell 10% quarter-over-quarter and fell short of analyst expectations amid a decline in retail trading activity volume declined, the company said in its first quarter earnings for 2025.
The crypto exchange booked $2 billion in total revenue on Thursday, below Wall Street analysts' estimates of $2.12 billion. Net income came in at $66 million, marking a 94% decrease from the fourth quarter of 2024.
The company’s earnings per share shrank to $0.26 from $4.84 the previous year for the same three-month period ending in March.
Coinbase’s results follow a challenging quarter for cryptocurrencies and other risk-on assets buffeted by U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs and widespread macroeconomic uncertainties that are threatening to cast the global economy into a recession. Bitcoin fell about 10% during the quarter after starting the year at about $83,500 (It regained ground during April and was recently trading above $102,000).
The declines also come despite the administration’s more favorable policies toward digital assets, including the Securities and Exchange Commission’s decision to dismiss a lawsuit against Coinbase.
Coinbase reaped $1.26 billion in revenue from its main trading business, largely from its consumers-focused services, down 19% quarter-over-quarter.
Trading is a major revenue driver for Coinbase, accounting for more than 60% of its revenue as of the end of the quarter, according to the company's filing. That line of business has remained a strong focal point of Coinbase's corporate strategy in the new year, with the firm acquiring derivatives exchange Deribit for $2.9 billion on Thursday in a bid to expand its trading offerings and global footprint.
The company’s stock closed Thursday at $206.50 up 5% in the past day but down 20% since the beginning of the year.
Coinbase is one of several public Web3 and fintech companies that has clocked higher-than-expected earnings/faced challenges since Trump’s election in early November.
Coinbase has recently taken several steps toward bear-market proofing its business, including signing a lucrative partnership with stablecoin issuer Circle and pushing for the continued development of its layer-2 network called Base.
Coinbase booked $297 million in the first quarter from its revenue-sharing agreement with Circle–up from the 197 million it notched in the first three months of 2024–as lawmakers made progress on a stablecoin bill that is expected to enable wider adoption of USDC and other U.S. dollar-pegged digital tokens.
USDC adoption on Coinbase has increased by a factor of 10 over the last two years, fueling Coinbase executives and analysts’ expectations that the stablecoin agreement will soon account for a growing share of the company’s revenue.
“We can drive utility in this where we can drive more trading pairs on our own platforms denominated in USDC, which drives the liquidity, and the more liquidity you have in any asset, that drives more adoption,” Coinbase Chief Financial Officer Alesia Haas told CNBC in February.
Apart from its agreement with Circle, Coinbase has also poured more resources into its efforts to build out Base.
Edited by James Rubin
