Q4 $667M Net Loss: Coinbase Earnings Report Foreshadows Challenging 2026 for Crypto Industry?

Original Title: "Q4 Huge Loss of 667 Million USD: Coinbase Financial Report Foreshadows a Tough Year for the Crypto Industry in 2026?"

Original Author: Mach, Foresight News

On February 13, the U.S. stock market experienced a sudden sharp decline, with the Dow Jones down 1.34%, the Nasdaq plummeting 2.03%, the S&P 500 falling 1.57%, gold dropping over 4%, and silver crashing 11%. Bitcoin price fell to $66,000, and Ethereum dropped to $1900.

Following the release of Coinbase, the largest U.S. cryptocurrency exchange, of its 2025 fourth-quarter and full-year financial report, the stock price plunged to around $140. Despite a strong performance for the full year, the net loss in Q4 and a slowdown in trading volume became the direct catalyst for investor sell-off.

For the full year 2025, Coinbase's revenue was $7.181 billion, a growth of about 9% from $6.564 billion in 2024, with a net income of $6.883 billion. Despite a net loss of $667 million in Q4 due to unrealized losses on the crypto asset portfolio, a net profit of $1.26 billion was still achieved for the year.

Since Q4 2022, Coinbase has ceased direct disclosure of "total verified users" in its financial reports (which was 110 million at that time). According to the latest data from DemandSage, as of the end of 2025, Coinbase's global verified user count is estimated to have reached around 120 million.

Furthermore, its stock performance has also been criticized, with the COIN price currently at a new low since March 2024.

Meanwhile, Matthew Sigel, Director of Digital Asset Research at VanEck, stated that Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong sold another 40,000 shares of COIN on January 5 for approximately $10.16 million based on the share price at that time. The VanEck chart supplement indicates that from April 2025 to January 2026, Brian Armstrong has sold over 1.5 million shares of Coinbase stock, cashing out approximately $550 million.

Q4 2025 Trading Volume at 18 Billion, But Slowing Down

On February 13, Coinbase's financial report detailed the full-year 2025 and Q4 financial data, presenting a mixed picture of growth and concerns.

Looking at the full year, Coinbase's total trading volume (including spot and derivatives) grew by 156% year-on-year, reaching $52 trillion, doubling its market share of crypto trading volume to 6.4% (up from 3.2% in 2024 and 1.8% in 2023).

Subscription and service revenue also hit a new high, reaching $2.328 billion for the full year, a 65% increase from 2024's $1.407 billion.

Notably, the stablecoin business stood out, with the USDC market cap rising to $760 billion (a significant increase from $380 billion in 2024 and $250 billion in 2023). The average USDC held within Coinbase's products reached $8 billion in Q4 (following a trend throughout the year from $3 billion in Q4'23 to $18 billion in Q4'24, and back to $8 billion in Q4'25, showing fluctuations but an overall upward trajectory).

The number of paid Coinbase One subscription users reached 971,000, a significant increase from 2024's 733,000 and 2023's 266,000, driven by adding new tiers and value-adding products like the Coinbase One Card.

Q4 Total Revenue at $1.8 Billion, $667 Million Loss Triggers Stock Plunge

The company revealed in the report that it has 12 products with annualized revenue exceeding $1 billion, with half surpassing $2.5 billion and two exceeding $10 billion.

Coinbase's transition from a simple trading platform to an "Everything Exchange" covering crypto, derivatives, stocks, prediction markets, and other areas. However, the Q4 specific data exposed short-term pressure, becoming a key driver of the stock price plunge.

Q4's total revenue was $1.8 billion, showing growth both year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter but falling short of Wall Street's expected $1.95 billion.

More striking is the net income: recording a $667 million loss, a reversal from profits in the same period last year and Q3. This loss was primarily due to unrealized losses from strategic investments, crypto asset price volatility (assets like Bitcoin retraced at the end of Q4), and rising operating expenses, including acquisition integration costs and regulatory compliance expenses.

If we exclude these non-core factors, the adjusted net income is $178 million, and adjusted EBITDA is $566 million, both positive but a 12% decrease from Q3, showing pressure on core profitability.

Transaction Fee Revenue was $1.05 billion, with the company's cash and equivalents at $11.3 billion as a traditional pillar of revenue, contributing approximately $1.05 billion in Q4 (about 55% for the full year). However, the transaction volume saw a slowdown compared to the previous period: while the total annual transaction volume reached $52 trillion, it was only about $12 trillion in Q4. Both retail and institutional trading were affected by market fluctuations, with a 15% decrease in average trade size per person. Spot trading volume fell by 10% year-on-year, and although the derivatives were boosted by the Deribit acquisition, it was not enough to offset the user loss due to bearish market sentiment—monthly active trading users decreased by 800,000 compared to the previous period, to 9.5 million.

Subscription and Service Revenue in Q4 was $730 million, an 18% year-on-year increase, but a slight 2% decrease from the previous period. In detail, benefiting from the Base Chain integration and developer tools, stablecoin revenue (mainly USDC) was $380 million, but staking rewards decreased to $120 million as the network yield rate declined by 18% compared to the previous period; interest and financial income were $65 million, and other service revenue was $165 million.

The balance sheet shows that the company's cash and cash equivalents reached $11.3 billion, an $800 million increase from Q3, benefiting from the full-year profit accumulation. However, loan issuance and crypto investments (such as Bitcoin holdings) in Q4 led to a net decrease of $300 million in dollar resources.

The company's Bitcoin holdings were not updated in Q4, but the annual trend shows a total holding of over 12,000 coins, with a total cost of about $800 million, an average price per coin of $66,000. The current value fluctuates with the Bitcoin price to about $1.1 billion (calculated based on a Bitcoin price of $90,000 at the time of the financial report). Calculated at the Bitcoin price on February 13, there is a slight unrealized loss.

While SEC regulation has slowed down, a new round of derivatives competition has intensified, with Binance's global expansion and Robinhood's cryptocurrency products eroding market share.

The financial report shows that Coinbase's 2026 priorities include expanding the Everything Exchange, extending stablecoin payments, and building on-chain finance. Base Chain's active addresses surpassed those of Optimism and Arbitrum, with a TVL of $3.5 billion.

According to the latest data from Token Terminal, Base's weekly active users are now second only to opBNB.

Latest data from DefiLlama shows that Base's TVL has risen to $39.05 billion.

Overall, Coinbase's financial report revealed the duality of the crypto giant: year-long innovation-driven diversification, but Q4 losses and trading softness exposed a reliance on asset prices. The sharp stock price decline is not just a sentiment reaction, but also a market questioning its sustainability. If there is no strong recovery or regulatory tailwinds by 2026, Coinbase will face a more severe test.

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