Coinbase Revenue Outpaces Nasdaq—Here’s What Analysts Say It Means

Coinbase has now overtaken two of the world’s largest securities exchanges in terms of transaction revenue, according to a crypto analyst from the private bank Coutts.

The crypto exchange generated $5.75 billion in transaction revenue over the past 12 months, compared to just $4.54 billion for the Nasdaq, where many of the world’s most valuable companies, including Apple, Google, and Microsoft, are traded.

Coinbase also surpassed the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong, the HKEX, which generated $2.67 billion over the past year, as well as Brazil’s Bolsa Balcão, which generated $1.81 billion.

Keep in mind that these numbers are not directly comparable and depend on the fees exchanges charge per transaction—for example, when buying or selling stocks or Bitcoin—not just the sheer number of transactions or the platform’s popularity.

To put these numbers in context, all major crypto, stock, and commodity exchanges worldwide generated about $51.27 billion in transaction revenue, according to Coutts’ data.

Putting Coinbase’s Revenue in Context 

Though Coinbase’s transaction revenue growth is very high, it still falls far short of the world’s largest exchanges.

The London Stock Exchange (LSE) generated $10.82 billion in transaction revenue during the past 12 months. The Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), which operates the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) as well as numerous futures, debt, and commodities exchanges, also remains far ahead with $9.16 billion in transaction revenue.

Mouloukou Sanoh, CEO of liquidity provider MANSA Finance, which builds on Coinbase’s BASE blockchain, noted that although Coinbase’s transaction revenue exceeds many of the world’s largest exchanges, its transaction volume lags behind the NASDAQ.

“Coinbase is still significantly lower in terms of volume than all the exchanges listed in Coutts’ data. But because they charge higher fees, that’s where they have higher transaction revenue,” he said.

Sanoh added: “I believe that there’s still a very, very long way to go.”

Still, he predicts that Coinbase is likely to continue overtaking traditional exchanges in revenue, potentially reaching the number three spot in total transaction revenue in 2025.

However, he believes it may be between 10 and 20 years before Coinbase surpasses the Nasdaq in overall trading volume.

“I feel like over the next 10 to 20 years is when we will see crypto exchanges completely flip traditional markets, but it’s still going to take a long time,” he said. “But I would not be surprised if, at some point after the turn of the decade, Coinbase is the largest global exchange, both by volume and by trading revenue.”

Coinbase still has a long way to go if it was to overtake the NASDAQ in terms of transaction volume; it had roughly $8 billion trading volume over the past 24 hours as per Coingecko, compared to almost $445 billion for the Nasdaq.

Sanoh believes this is likely due to Coinbase’s potential for growth in Latin America, Africa, Europe, and other areas outside its traditional core market in the U.S.

“I think their distribution in the U.S. is very strong, but internationally they’ve been quite weak and hesitant to expand,” he said. “But now with the new administration, they’ll be more bullish on overseas expansion. I think that’s where the next billions of dollars in revenue and volume will come from.”

Coinbase’s sales fell to $1.2 billion in Q3 2024 from $1.45 billion in the previous quarter, coming in below analysts’ expectations. It reported a $75 million profit compared to $2 million in the previous year.

Coinbase did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Decrypt.

Edited by Stacy Elliott.