Coinbase Global (COIN)

Coinbase allows users to buy, sell, store, transfer, and use a range of cryptocurrencies through its consumer app and more advanced trading products. Unlike traditional securities exchanges that mainly connect brokers and market participants, Coinbase often maintains a direct relationship with end users. Many customers also choose to hold digital assets with Coinbase Custody, giving the company a role that combines exchange services, brokerage, and safekeeping.

The company’s revenue remains closely linked to crypto market activity, with transaction fees from retail trading historically representing a major source of income. However, Coinbase has broadened its business over time through institutional services, prime brokerage, staking and blockchain rewards, custody, data products, subscriptions, and other services tied to digital asset infrastructure. Its institutional platform, Coinbase Prime, is designed for asset managers, hedge funds, corporations, and other professional investors that need execution, financing, custody, and reporting tools.

Coinbase is also notable for its emphasis on compliance, public-company transparency, and engagement with regulators. Its financial performance can be volatile because trading volumes, asset prices, and investor sentiment in crypto markets can change quickly, but its brand remains central to the mainstream adoption of digital assets in the US.