Coinbase’s second quarter was met with a negative market reaction as revenue growth fell short of Wall Street’s expectations, despite a significant beat on non-GAAP profit. Management attributed the shortfall primarily to a decline in trading volumes, driven by reduced crypto asset volatility and a strategic shift in stablecoin pair pricing. CFO Alesia Haas noted, “Crypto asset volatility declined 16%, despite the average crypto price market cap being roughly flat,” underscoring the impact of market conditions and intentional business decisions on quarterly results. The company also faced elevated operating expenses due in part to a large data theft incident, which weighed on margins.
Is now the time to buy COIN? Find out in our full research report (it’s free).
Coinbase (COIN) Q2 CY2025 Highlights:
- Revenue: $1.50 billion vs analyst estimates of $1.56 billion (3.3% year-on-year growth, 4.3% miss)
- Adjusted EPS: $5.14 vs analyst estimates of $1.49 (significant beat)
- Adjusted EBITDA: $512.1 million vs analyst estimates of $588.7 million (34.2% margin, 13% miss)
- Operating Margin: -1.6%, down from 23.7% in the same quarter last year
- Monthly Transacting Users: 8.7 million, up 500,000 year on year
- Market Capitalization: $82.89 billion
While we enjoy listening to the management's commentary, our favorite part of earnings calls are the analyst questions. Those are unscripted and can often highlight topics that management teams would rather avoid or topics where the answer is complicated. Here is what has caught our attention.
Our Top 5 Analyst Questions From Coinbase’s Q2 Earnings Call
- Ken Worthington (JPMorgan): Asked about Coinbase’s vision for payments, especially the role of stablecoins versus traditional networks. CEO Brian Armstrong explained that Coinbase aims to enable both consumer and merchant payments, leveraging its full-stack infrastructure, but does not seek to directly compete with Visa or Mastercard.
- Owen Lau (Oppenheimer): Inquired about the prospects for the Base app as a U.S. “super app.” Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal and CFO Alesia Haas noted that regulatory progress, such as the SEC’s single license, could streamline compliance and enable broader product offerings, but emphasized execution risks.
- Devin Ryan (JMP Securities): Sought clarity on timing and revenue models for the “everything exchange” and tokenized equities. CEO Brian Armstrong described multiple revenue streams—brokerage, custody, primary offerings—but said the timeline depends on regulatory and technology milestones.
- Ben Budish (Barclays): Probed payments monetization and whether stablecoin proliferation is the main focus. Armstrong said payments will generate fees via transaction processing and Base sequencer fees, with the potential for lower costs and increased adoption versus legacy systems.
- Pete Christiansen (Citi): Questioned how Coinbase is improving customer service post-data breach. President Emilie Choi detailed a shift toward automation, in-house support, and expanded onshore facilities, with ongoing investment in AI-driven service quality and cybersecurity.
Catalysts in Upcoming Quarters
Our research team will closely monitor (1) the rollout and adoption of decentralized exchange integration and tokenized equities initiatives, (2) the growth trajectory and monetization of the Base blockchain and stablecoin payments business, and (3) progress in expanding institutional partnerships for Crypto-as-a-Service. Developments in regulatory policy and cybersecurity will also remain top priorities for tracking execution risk and growth durability.
Coinbase currently trades at $324.38, down from $377.63 just before the earnings. In the wake of this quarter, is it a buy or sell? The answer lies in our full research report (it’s free).
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