Coinbase Q3 net income: $719 million. A "JUST IN" post from Cointelegraph got over 20,000 views, then a bunch of accounts copied it verbatim.
Take a look at the table in the appendix and you might think twice before cheering: of the $718.7 million in net income, $715 million came from investment gains on the crypto sitting on its own balance sheet (pre-tax). Strip that out and adjusted net income was about $77.7 million. This quarter, it was crypto prices making money—not the exchange business.
Here’s what the core business looks like: total revenue of $1.216 billion, down 35% year over year and slightly below consensus. Transaction revenue was $590 million, down 44%. Subscriptions and services brought in $570 million, down 20%. Adjusted EBITDA was $333 million, down 58%.
Last quarter, under the same accounting rules, it lost $359 million. When crypto prices rise, it’s "earnings above expectations"; when they fall, it’s "widening losses." If you’re using that $2.51 EPS to call a turnaround for COIN, draw your own conclusions.
There are really only two things worth watching: prediction markets’ annualized revenue topped $200 million, and average USDC holdings hit a record $22 billion. One is new traffic; the other, when you get down to it, makes money on the spread. As for spot trading fees, retail investors really aren’t showing up much anymore.
#Coinbase #COIN