Coinbase $2.23B Q2 Earnings Exceeds Estimates

Despite a widespread selloff in the cryptocurrency market, Coinbase Global (ticker COIN) reported higher-than-expected second quarter earnings Tuesday, bolstered by trading volumes and an increase in users.

Shares of the digital asset exchange rose as much as 2.1% in the extended trading session Tuesday following the earnings report release.

Coinbase reported $2.23 billion in revenue, exceeding the $1.85 billion expected from analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. 

Profit for the second quarter was $1.6 billion, compared with $32 million in 2020. 

For the first time in its history, Coinbase reported a higher trading volume of ethereum than bitcoin with 26% of trades being in ETH. Twenty-four percent of trades were in bitcoin, the exchange reported. 

Coinbase also reported an increase in institutional trading volume, after the exchange emphasized this as a growth area in its first quarter earnings. 

In its shareholder letter, Coinbase revealed that 13% of Americans have traded cryptocurrencies in the last year. The exchange cited that 24% of Americans have traded stocks. 

“These adoption trends paired with recent government attention on crypto as a revenue source suggests we have reached an inflection point,” Coinbase said in the letter. “Crypto has arrived.”

Share price performance

The results follow disappointing share price performance. After nearly hitting $430 shortly after its initial public offering, COIN fell as much as 51.5% to $208. 

“With shares down by such a large percentage, there is a chance we could see some re-engagement, according to analysts at Goldman Sachs,” said Fiona Cincotta, senior financial markets analyst at City Index. 

At the time of publication, COIN was trading at $269.67.