Coinbase Q1 revenue misses as volume drops, market share hits 8.6% record

Coinbase Global reported first-quarter revenue of $1.4 billion on Thursday, missing the $1.56 billion consensus estimate, as a broad decline in crypto trading volumes weighed on transaction fees and pushed the company to a GAAP net loss of $394 million, or $1.49 per share.

The headline miss masked a mixed quarter beneath the surface. Crypto spot market share reached an all-time high of 8.6 per cent, up from 8.0 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2025 and more than triple the 2.7 per cent the exchange held two years ago. Subscription and services revenue hit $584 million, representing 44 per cent of total net revenue, driven by a record average USDC balance of $19 billion. Coinbase shares fell 0.93 per cent in after-hours trading to $196.12.

Analysts had expected EPS of $0.29. The company reported an adjusted net loss of $46 million when excluding $482 million in crypto asset mark-to-market losses. Adjusted EBITDA came in at $303 million, positive for the 13th consecutive quarter but down 46 per cent from the prior quarter and 67 per cent year-over-year.

It is a quarter that underscores how far Coinbase has diversified from its spot-trading roots, and how exposed it still is when the crypto tide goes out.

Transaction revenue slide

Transaction revenue came in at $756 million, down 23 per cent quarter-over-quarter. The decline was less severe than the 28 per cent drop in total crypto spot market volumes, reflecting Coinbase’s growing share of a shrinking pool. Consumer spot trading fell 35 per cent, partially offset by growth in derivatives, where volumes reached $4.2 billion on a trailing-12-month basis, up 169 per cent year-over-year.

Total crypto market capitalisation and trading volumes each declined more than 20 per cent quarter-over-quarter, and total crypto spot volumes fell 37 per cent. Assets on the platform stood at $294 billion, representing 12 per cent of global crypto market capitalisation, down from $376 billion at the end of the fourth quarter. Coinbase recorded its 12th consecutive quarter of net native unit inflows in custody.

Subscription strength

Subscription and services revenue of $584 million was the second-highest on record. Stablecoin revenue reached $305 million, up 55 per cent year-over-year, driven by an average USDC balance of $19 billion on the platform. Coinbase captures approximately 50 per cent of total USDC economics.

Blockchain rewards from staking generated $101 million. Interest and finance fee income was $68 million, which management described as a record for loan balances. The company now has 12 products each generating more than $100 million in annualised revenue, up from just two in 2019.

Prediction markets, launched two months before the quarter ended, exceeded $100 million in annualised revenue in March alone. Management called it one of the fastest-growing products in the company’s history. Retail derivatives are generating more than $200 million in annualised revenue.

The base blockchain processed $13.9 trillion in quarterly stablecoin transaction volume. Base’s share of global stablecoin transaction volume surged to 62 per cent from just 1 per cent a year earlier. USDC and partner stablecoins now account for 83 per cent of transaction volume on the network. Coinbase said more than 99 per cent of onchain agentic commerce in the quarter used USDC, and more than 90 per cent of agentic stablecoin transactions ran on Base.

Guidance and cost cuts

For the second quarter, Coinbase reported transaction revenue of approximately $215 million quarter-to-date through May 5. It guided subscription and services revenue to $565 million to $645 million. Full-year 2026 adjusted expenses are expected to run between $4.25 billion and $4.6 billion, reflecting approximately $500 million in cost reductions relative to the 2025 annualised exit rate.

The company also announced a 14 per cent headcount reduction, cutting staffing to approximately 4,300 employees from 4,988, and expects a restructuring charge of $50 million to $60 million in the second quarter. Management cautioned against extrapolating the quarter’s results given ongoing market volatility.

Coinbase holds more than $10.2 billion in cash and cash equivalents, plus $1.8 billion in marketable investments and crypto holdings, for total available resources of approximately $12 billion.

The onchain thesis

Management argued during the earnings call that the onchain economy has reached what it called escape velocity, citing a McKinsey forecast that AI agents will process $3 trillion to $5 trillion in transactions by 2030. Coinbase is positioning its full-stack platform as the native execution rail for that agent-led economy.

Base processed more than 100 million x402 payments, a machine-to-machine payment protocol, in the quarter. Decentralised exchange trading volume within the Coinbase app reached $293 million, doubling quarter-over-quarter. Average borrow and lend balances on the platform were $1.33 billion, up more than $1 billion year-over-year.

On efficiency, Coinbase said pull requests per engineer increased 78 per cent year-over-year and integration test coverage tripled in the past six months. The company has shifted from legacy teams of 10 people to what it called AI-native pods of two to three people plus AI agents.