Coinbase reports $2 billion in net revenue for second quarter of 2021

Coinbase brought in roughly $2 billion in second-quarter revenue, with the vast majority of that amount coming in the form of transaction revenue from its retail customer base.

Per a shareholder letter published Tuesday, Coinbase said it made $1.82 billion in retail-oriented transaction revenue and $102 million in institutional-oriented revenue for a total of $1.93 billion. That compares to a total of $1.54 billion in Q1 of this year and $467.4 million in the last quarter of 2020.

Other revenue sources included $31.7 million custodial fees, $39 million in "blockchain revenue", and $16.9 million from Earn campaigns. "Subscription and services revenue" accounted for a total of $102.6 million, per the letter. 

In terms of volume, Coinbase said it saw $462 billion in volume during the second quarter. The split was $317 billion for institutional and $145 billion for retail. That compares to Q1's $335 billion, divided between $215 billion and $120 billion for institutional and retail, respectively, during that period. Notably, Coinbase said that 26% of its trade volume was for ETH compared to 24% for bitcoin, a first based on prior data.

"Growth in retail Trading Volume was driven by higher MTUs, a strong crypto market environment, product innovation, and our ability to support more assets for trading. Institutional Trading Volume was $317 billion, an increase of 47% compared to Q1. Institutional volume comprised 69% of total Trading Volume, up from 64% in Q1. In the quarter, Institutional onboarding to the Coinbase platform increased rapidly as well as higher capital allocations into crypto," Coinbase said.

In terms of assets on platform, Coinbase reported a total of $180 billion — $88 billion from retail and $92 billion from institutional during the second quarter. Of that amount, 47% of it was in the form of bitcoin, with ether making up another 24% of the amount.

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"As of June 30, 2021, Assets on Platform totaled $180 billion. Crypto assets on the platform represented 11.2% of the total market capitalization of crypto assets. Despite price movements, we saw billions of dollars of net asset inflows and new customers added throughout Q2," Coinbase said. 

Coinbase reported growth in the number of monthly transacting users or MTUs, up from Q1's 6.1 million to 8.8 million in the second quarter. 

"Q2 MTU growth was driven by the crypto market environment, product launches, 
 our marketing efforts, and the growing number of crypto assets we support," Coinbase said.

Looking ahead, the firm indicated during its earnings session that figures such as retail MTUs and trading volume could slip in the months ahead.

"In July, retail MTUs and total Trading Volume were 6.3 million and $57.0 billion, respectively, as crypto asset prices and crypto asset volatility declined significantly relative to Q2 levels. August month-to-date, retail MTUs and Trading Volume levels have slightly improved compared to July levels but remain lower than earlier in the year. As a result, we believe retail MTUs and total Trading Volume will be lower in Q3 as compared to Q2," the firm said. 

Coinbase's stock closed Tuesday at $269.67, according to Nasdaq data. The firm went public via a direct listing in April.