Coinbase posts third consecutive quarterly profit despite crypto price retreat
Coinbase Global (COIN) eked out its third consecutive quarterly profit even as crypto prices retreated during the second quarter.
Net income rose to $36 million, compared with a net loss of $97 million a year ago. Net revenue more than doubled to $1.4 billion. Analysts expected slightly higher revenue and more sizable profits.
Coinbase’s stock rose in after-hours trading after falling more than 5% Thursday. Since the start of 2024 the stock of the largest US cryptocurrency exchange is up more than 20%.
Coinbase's results were once again affected by a fairly new accounting change that requires it to value its crypto holdings based on end-of-period prices.
That worked in its favor during the first quarter when Coinbase recorded a $737 million pretax gain as prices surged. Bitcoin (BTC-USD) hit a record high near $74,000, largely due to excitement surrounding the launch of a series of new bitcoin ETFs.
But in the second quarter, as the price of bitcoin fell 12%, Coinbase took a $319 million impairment on the value of its digital asset holdings. Its crypto trading volume also pulled back.
In turn, Coinbase's profits and net revenue fell a respective 97% and 13% from the previous quarter.
MicroStrategy (MSTR), the world’s largest publicly traded holder of bitcoin, also wrote down the value of its crypto holdings for the second quarter, with an impairment of $180 million and a net loss of $102 million.
Its stock was down more than 6% Thursday and continued to sell off in after-market trading. It's still up more than 130% year to date.
Coinbase did have plenty of bright spots in the second quarter.
It posted better-than-expected revenue on transaction fees, subscriptions, and services business lines.
Transaction fees of $781 million rose 139% from a year ago. Subscriptions and services revenue was $599 million, 78.6% higher than last year.
Coinbase also said it expects third quarter subscription and services revenue to be within a range of $530 million-$600 million.
Its custodial fees, which it earns partly from partnerships with some of the new bitcoin ETFs, also rose by 7% from the first quarter and doubled from the year-ago period to $34.5 million.
It could earn more from a new series of ETFs that hold the world's second-largest cryptocurrency, Ether (ETH-USD), which just launched last week.
"Execution is really strong over here at Coinbase," Coinbase CFO Alesia Haas told Yahoo Finance in an interview.
"We're really pleased with our results despite the continued volatility of crypto and the ebbing and flowing market that we always find ourselves in."
Coinbase still has some regulatory troubles it needs to solve despite making some progress.
The firm's biggest headache is a 2023 lawsuit from the Securities and Exchange Commission alleging the company violated US federal securities laws.
Coinbase and its CEO, Brian Armstrong, are fighting those allegations. The critical case could take years to play out.
The company is also trying to influence how the US regulates crypto by helping to amass a lobbying war chest during a critical election year.
Fairshake, the crypto industry's largest super-PAC, currently has raised $203 million, according to data tracked by Open Secrets. That is more than any other super-PAC.
And 93% of that money hasn’t yet been spent, meaning its impact could be deeply felt in the months ahead.
"Crypto legislation has become a mainstream issue in the US, garnering bipartisan support, and there is real energy within both the House and the Senate to pass meaningful legislation," the company said in a release.
The company also said it would "continue to invest in policy initiatives throughout the 2024 election cycle to help elect pro-crypto candidates."
David Hollerith is a senior reporter for Yahoo Finance covering banking, crypto, and other areas in finance.
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