Coinbase Global, Inc. (COIN)

Coinbase's mission is to increase economic freedom in the world by providing a trusted platform that makes it easy for customers to engage with crypto assets and update the century-old financial system. In December 2025 it took a step toward becoming what it calls the "Everything Exchange," expanding the assets available to trade beyond spot crypto to include stocks, commodity futures, perpetual futures, and prediction markets. The company says it differentiates itself through trust, including holding customer assets one-to-one, and through ease of use.

Its business combines transaction-fee products with subscription and services products. Transaction products include Simple trade, aimed at ease of use, and Advanced trade, which offers order books, charts, and trading tools. Fees are volume-based and include a spread. Coinbase Prime is a prime brokerage platform for institutions. The company operates four exchanges: Coinbase Exchange (spot, 360+ crypto assets), Coinbase International Exchange (perpetual futures and spot), Coinbase Derivatives Exchange (dated and perpetual-style futures), and Deribit (options, futures, and spot; described as the global leader in crypto options by volume and open interest). Other transaction products are Base, a decentralized Ethereum L2 blockchain that earns sequencer fees, and the self-custodial Base App, formerly Coinbase Wallet. Subscription and services products include stablecoin offerings, chiefly USDC under the Circle Agreement, in which Coinbase shares in the economics of the reserves backing USDC. They also include staking services for consumers and institutions (with a commission on rewards), the cbETH wrapped staking token, institutional financing and lending, institutional custody through Coinbase Prime, the Coinbase One consumer subscription (Basic, Preferred, and Premium tiers, plus a credit card), and the Coinbase Developer Platform, which helps businesses build onchain products.

Coinbase serves three customer groups. Consumers are retail customers who hold, invest, or trade crypto and a growing set of products such as equities, prediction markets, and derivatives. Institutions include market makers, asset managers, hedge funds, banks, wealth platforms, registered investment advisors, payment platforms, and corporations, which use the products to custody and trade crypto or crypto derivatives. Developers include technology companies, financial institutions, and payment firms that build on Base and the Coinbase Developer Platform. Its custody business serves several Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF issuers.

On the operating side, Coinbase stores crypto assets with proprietary technology. Cold storage is used for most assets, and it generally holds no more than 2% of assets under custody in hot wallets. It does not use third-party sub-custodians, and the custodial subsidiaries Coinbase, Inc. and Coinbase Custody Trust Company are examined by regulators such as the NYDFS. U.S. customer cash is held at FDIC-insured institutions, NCUSIF-insured credit unions, and in money market funds. The company invests in compliance, KYC and anti-money laundering programs, and trade surveillance. It competes with traditional financial services and fintech companies, crypto-focused companies (including some operating under less stringent regulation), institution-focused point solutions, decentralized and non-custodial platforms, and stablecoins other than USDC. The text does not state the headquarters location.