Yet the stock of the largest US cryptocurrency exchange fell by as much as 4% in after-hours trading trading Thursday.
This was just the second time Coinbase has reported positive quarterly earnings since the fourth quarter of 2021, when the last crypto boom was still raging.The boost in this year's first quarter came from a revival in digital coin trading due largely to the launch of a series of new bitcoin ETFs in January.
This surge lifted Coinbase’s transaction revenue to $1.07 billion, nearly twice what it earned in trading fees in the first quarter of 2023 and better than the consensus expectations from analysts.) also surged during the first quarter, climbing to a new all-time high of $73,750. It has since fallen from that peak to trade around $59,000.Coinbase posted non-trading subscriptions and services revenue of $511 million, which rose 41% from a year ago.
Another big exchange, FTX, filed for bankruptcy and its co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried was criminally convicted last year. He was sentenced this year to 25 years in prison.Binance, another Coinbase rival, also paid $4.3 billion fines to US government agencies for violating anti-money laundering requirements.Earlier this week, Binance founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao was sentenced to 4 months in prison for his part in the violations.
Coinbase and its CEO Brian Armstrong are fighting those allegations. The critical case could take years to play out.