Coinbase (Nasdaq: COIN), the largest US crypto exchange, reported its third-quarter 2026 results on Thursday, October 29, after the US stock market closed. It made a profit of $719 million, up from $433 million a year earlier and back in the black after a loss in the second quarter. But almost all of that profit came from the rising value of the crypto Coinbase holds as an investment, not from its day-to-day business.
The quarter in numbers
For the three months to September 30, 2026, compared with the same quarter of 2025:
- Net income: $719 million, up from $433 million.
- Earnings per share (diluted): $2.51, up from $1.50.
- Gains on crypto held as an investment: $715 million, up from $424 million.
- Adjusted net income (without those gains): $78 million, down from $421 million.
- Total revenue: $1.22 billion, down 35% from $1.87 billion, and about the same as in the second quarter.
- Adjusted EBITDA (a measure of operating profit): $333 million, down from $801 million.
Where the money comes from
- Trading fees (transaction revenue): $590 million, down from $1.05 billion a year earlier.
- Subscriptions and services: $570 million, down from $717 million. This part now makes up almost half of Coinbase’s revenue.
- Stablecoin revenue, mostly interest earned on reserves behind the USDC stablecoin: $307 million, down from $325 million.
- Prediction markets, where users bet on events such as sports and elections, now bring in more than $200 million a year, according to the company.
Less trading
Customers bought and sold $135 billion of crypto on Coinbase’s regular (spot) market in the quarter, less than half the $294 billion of a year earlier. Trading in derivatives (contracts that follow crypto prices) reached $963 billion, up from $844 billion a year earlier but down from the second quarter.
Coinbase also lowered its planned spending for 2026 again, to between $4.15 billion and $4.3 billion of adjusted expenses. For the fourth quarter, it said trading revenue was about $165 million in the first weeks, up to October 25.
Coinbase shares closed at $160.59 on Thursday, before the results came out.
Why it matters
Coinbase is the biggest regulated crypto exchange in the US, so its results show how active ordinary crypto investors are. The headline profit looks strong, but it depends on crypto prices at the end of September, and the business underneath is smaller than a year ago because people are trading much less. Like Robinhood earlier this week, Coinbase is leaning on newer products, such as prediction markets and stablecoins, to make up for the slower crypto market.
This article is for information only and is not financial advice.
