Coinbase Global Q4 Earnings Call Highlights
by Scott Moore · The Cerbat GemCoinbase Global (NASDAQ:COIN) executives used the company’s fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 earnings call to emphasize diversification efforts aimed at reducing reliance on crypto trading volumes, while also outlining three major priorities for 2026: expanding its “Everything Exchange,” scaling stablecoins and payments, and “bringing the world on-chain” through deeper DeFi and Base integrations.
Diversification, “Everything Exchange,” and 2026 priorities
CEO Brian Armstrong said Coinbase has “successfully diversified the business,” pointing to stablecoins, subscription and services revenue, and newer efforts to offer trading in other asset classes such as stocks, prediction markets, and commodities. Armstrong said Coinbase launched the “Everything Exchange” in the fourth quarter and is seeing “early signs of success,” adding that global trading volume and market share doubled year-over-year and reached new all-time highs.
Armstrong also highlighted activity outside of crypto during a recent downturn in crypto prices, saying gold and silver futures drove record notional volume on Coinbase’s exchange and the company recorded its highest 24-hour trading volume in over a year. He added that Base hit a new transaction all-time high, which he attributed to AI agents adopting stablecoin wallets, and said Base is “quickly establishing itself as the on-chain home for AI.”
Looking ahead, Armstrong said Coinbase plans to keep investing through market cycles, including buying bitcoin and continuing share repurchases.
Armstrong laid out three priorities for 2026:
- Grow the Everything Exchange: Coinbase’s goal is one platform for tradable assets including crypto, equities, prediction markets, and commodities. Armstrong said the company rolled out prediction markets to 100% of customers and will add more markets and a dedicated sports hub. He said equities are rolling out, with “almost 10,000 tickers” expected to be live during the month referenced on the call. He also said Coinbase acquired Echo in Q4 to enable more efficient on-chain capital formation, and the company is working on tokenized equities.
- Scale stablecoins and payments: Armstrong called stablecoins “the second killer app in crypto,” noting an all-time high for USDC stored in Coinbase products in Q4 and that USDC market cap reached about $75 billion. He said Coinbase is focused on deeper stablecoin integrations, scaling payments infrastructure via Coinbase Developer Platform and Coinbase Business, and preserving the ability to pay stablecoin rewards.
- Bring the world on-chain: Armstrong said Coinbase expects more DeFi integrations in the Coinbase app, scaled adoption of the Base app with a new focus on trading, and continued growth in Base chain transaction volume.
Full-year 2025 results and Q4 performance
CFO Alesia Haas said 2025 was a “strong year” operationally and financially, and that Coinbase delivered or outperformed revenue and expense guidance it provided each quarter. She reported full-year total revenue of $7.2 billion, up 9% year-over-year. Subscription and services revenue was $2.8 billion, up 23% year-over-year, and Haas noted it was more than 5.5 times higher than the prior cycle peak in 2021.
For the fourth quarter, Haas said market conditions softened quarter-over-quarter, with crypto market cap down 11%. Still, she said Coinbase outperformed the market on total trading volume, driven by derivatives volume growth, and noted Deribit posted another all-time high quarter. Haas also said Q4 marked Coinbase’s ninth consecutive quarter of native unit inflows to Assets on Platform and its 12th consecutive quarter of adjusted EBITDA profitability.
Coinbase reported Q4 total revenue of $1.8 billion, down 5% quarter-over-quarter. Transaction revenue was $983 million, down 6%, while subscription and services revenue was $727 million, down 3%.
Total operating expenses were $1.5 billion, up 9% quarter-over-quarter and in line with the company’s outlook. Haas attributed higher costs primarily to expenses associated with acquisitions of Deribit and Echo, as well as higher USDC rewards reflecting record USDC balances in Coinbase products. Coinbase ended 2025 with 4,951 full-time employees, up 3% quarter-over-quarter, as it invested in product development, customer support, and compliance infrastructure.
Adjusted EBITDA in Q4 was $566 million, and adjusted net income was $178 million. On a GAAP basis, Coinbase reported a net loss of $667 million, which Haas said was primarily driven by a $718 million unrealized loss on the company’s crypto investment portfolio and a $395 million loss on strategic investments, including its investment in Circle.
Balance sheet, buybacks, and capital allocation
Haas said Coinbase ended the year with $11.3 billion in cash and cash equivalents and total available resources of approximately $14.1 billion when including crypto assets held for investments and collateral. She said the company began repurchasing stock during Q4 and through early February as the share price declined, and that Coinbase had repurchased $1.7 billion of common stock, fully offsetting 2025 dilution from stock-based compensation. Haas also said the board approved an additional $2 billion share repurchase authorization in January, which the company plans to deploy opportunistically.
In response to an analyst question about buybacks and M&A, Haas said Coinbase completed 10 acquisitions/acqui-hires in 2025 and described Deribit as “the largest crypto deal of all time.” She also said Coinbase doubled the number of BTC native units held in its investment portfolio during 2025 and is continuing weekly additions to its crypto investment portfolio, with a modest increase in weekly purchases during the current price environment.
Addressing M&A strategy for 2026, the company said it would remain selective but “aggressive where assets meaningfully pull forward the roadmap,” with a focus on advancing the Everything Exchange, owning more on-chain infrastructure, and bundling stablecoins and payments infrastructure.
Q1 outlook and market conditions
For the first quarter, Haas said Coinbase had generated approximately $420 million of transaction revenue through February 10. She cautioned against extrapolating given heightened volatility.
Coinbase expects Q1 subscription and services revenue of $550 million to $630 million, reflecting lower average crypto prices, lower interest rates, and lower staking protocol reward rates compared with Q4. The company expects technology and development plus general and administrative expenses to be flat quarter-over-quarter in the range of $925 million to $975 million, and sales and marketing expense to be flat to down quarter-over-quarter in the range of $215 million to $315 million.
Haas also said that as the year began, retail customers were “HODLing” but that active customers were “buying the dip,” with net buying versus selling each week so far in 2026.
Regulation, stablecoin rewards, Base, and product updates
On regulation, Armstrong said he was optimistic about progress on the CLARITY Act and suggested there was a path to get something through “in the next few months,” while noting the GENIUS Act was passed about six months earlier and the company wanted to avoid relitigating it.
In a separate exchange about stablecoin rewards and Coinbase’s relationship with Circle, Armstrong said Coinbase did not see market structure legislation changing its economic relationship with Circle. He added that if stablecoin rewards were prohibited, it would “ironically” make Coinbase more profitable because the company currently passes a majority of economics to customers, but he said Coinbase does not want that outcome and intends to advocate for rewards to remain allowed.
On Base monetization, Haas clarified that sequencer fees are recorded in “other transaction revenue,” not subscription and services revenue, though Base can indirectly benefit subscription and services through USDC usage on Base. Armstrong said Coinbase supports builders through Base Grants, improved developer tools, and distribution through Coinbase apps. He also said Coinbase is exploring a Base token and highlighted tooling to give AI agents crypto wallets for stablecoin payments.
Coinbase also addressed an operational incident, saying some users briefly experienced interruptions in buying, selling, and transferring crypto on retail and prime platforms. The company said derivatives and equities trading were unaffected and that the issue was a technical problem unrelated to trading volume or market conditions and has since been resolved.
On prediction markets, Armstrong said the product rolled out to all customers a couple of weeks earlier and interest has been strong, citing Super Bowl weekend as a notable early moment. He said Coinbase is launching with partner Kalshi in a non-exclusive arrangement and noted Coinbase has the ability to launch its own markets, though nothing was announced.
About Coinbase Global (NASDAQ:COIN)
Coinbase Global, Inc is a U.S.-based company that operates one of the largest cryptocurrency exchange platforms. Founded in 2012 by Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam and headquartered in San Francisco, Coinbase provides technology and infrastructure to buy, sell, store and use a broad range of digital assets. The company became a public company through a direct listing on the NASDAQ in April 2021 and offers services tailored to both retail and institutional customers.
Coinbase’s product portfolio includes its consumer trading platform, a self-custody mobile wallet, and institutional services such as custody, prime brokerage and execution tools.