šŸ’¼ Coinbase’s 90% Revenue Shift Changed Everything

In partnership with

šŸŒžGood Monday Morning, Folks!

Everyone says they’re ā€œearlyā€ to the crypto future — but the way they react to Coinbase tells a different story.

Because the second Bitcoin wobbles 3%, the same people who swear they’re here for the long term suddenly start checking charts like their portfolio is on life support. Meanwhile, Coinbase just dropped a quarter showing ~90% YoY growth in recurring revenue, institutional custody inflows, and actual consistent profitability — and the market barely blinked.

This is the part that gets me:
People keep treating Coinbase like a hype asset… while Wall Street is literally using it as the compliant on-ramp to the new financial system.

The story already changed.
Most investors just haven’t caught up.

So today, we’re not talking vibes, candles, hopium, or bull cycle predictions.
We’re talking about how Coinbase quietly turned into the toll booth for every meaningful crypto transaction — and why the real opportunity isn’t in chasing the next coin pump…

It’s in owning the infrastructure the world has to use, whether they like it or not.

⚔ Quick Hits

The latest shutdown standoff has shifted from spending negotiations to the Affordable Care Act itself — meaning this is no longer a procedural fight, it’s ideological. When shutdown risk moves from budget lines to core social policy, volatility jumps fast. Markets tend to ignore these battles until something ā€œbreaks,ā€ and by then, the trade is crowded.

Everyone is focused on the succession, but the message Buffett is leaving behind is the real signal: valuations, leverage cycles, and capital discipline matter again. This isn’t sentimental — it’s strategic. When the greatest capital allocator of the last century tells you the market is forgetting how risk works, you listen.

Long-term financial security is becoming less about ā€œwhat you earnā€ and more about how you structure volatility and income. The article highlights a shift toward predictable cash flow and defensive diversification — a realignment that often begins before markets show stress. If you wait until volatility shows up to adjust, you’re late.

TOGETHER WITH OUR PARTNER

Don’t get SaaD. Get Rippling.

Remember when software made business simpler?

Today, the average company runs 100+ apps—each with its own logins, data, and headaches. HR can’t find employee info. IT fights security blind spots. Finance reconciles numbers instead of planning growth.

Our State of Software Sprawl report reveals the true cost of ā€œSoftware as a Disserviceā€ (SaaD)—and how much time, money, and sanity it’s draining from your teams.

The future of work is unified. Don’t get SaaD. Get Rippling.

šŸ’”One Big Idea: Everyone Looked at Crypto Prices. I Looked at COIN’s Profit Engine - And It’s Up 90% YoY.

Most people still talk about Coinbase like it’s just a place to buy crypto.

They see Bitcoin go up, they assume Coinbase goes up.
Bitcoin goes down, Coinbase must be dying.
End of story. Move on.

This is the level of ā€œanalysisā€ that drives most of the market’s reaction to COIN.

But that view is outdated.
That view is shallow.
And that view is now dangerously wrong.

Because while everyone was staring at coin prices and influencer charts, Coinbase rebuilt its business into something the market isn’t properly pricing yet.

Coinbase did something far more important than benefit from a bull run:

It transformed its revenue engine.

šŸ” The Numbers That Actually Matter

Here’s what changed — and what Wall Street is now slowly waking up to:

Segment

YoY Trend

Why It Matters

Subscription & Services Revenue

Up ~90% YoY

Stable, recurring, non-speculative cash flow

Institutional Custody

Growing with ETF AUM

Coinbase is becoming Wall Street’s crypto vault

Trading Revenue

Up with activity but now smaller share

Business is less sensitive to hype cycles

Net Income

Profitable, not one-time

Proof the model is durable, not episodic

Layer-2 Network (Base)

Developer growth accelerating

Coinbase owns the infrastructure, not just the interface

The key takeaway:

Coinbase decoupled its survival from retail trading volume.

This is the entire ballgame.

The company most investors think lives and dies by Bitcoin sentiment…
now has multiple revenue engines that persist regardless of market mood.

That’s not speculation.
That’s business model maturity.

🧭 Let’s Call Out the Misconception Directly

The market still sees Coinbase as: The exchange people use to buy crypto during bull markets.

But institutions see Coinbase as: ā€œThe only compliant, regulated, insured, audited, publicly listed digital asset bank.ā€

Those two identities are not even in the same universe.

One is a trading app.
The other is market infrastructure.

Market infrastructure is where long-term wealth accumulates.

šŸ›ļø Coinbase Became Wall Street’s Custodian

When BlackRock launched the Bitcoin ETF, they could have gone with anyone.

They chose Coinbase.

When Fidelity launched theirs, same story.

ARK, Galaxy, VanEck, Franklin Templeton — same answer.

Coinbase now sits at the center of the institutional crypto supply chain.

This is how the future finance rails get standardized:

Role

Old World Equivalent

Crypto Equivalent

Clearing & Settlement

DTCC / CME

Coinbase Prime

Asset Custody

BNY Mellon / State Street

Coinbase Custody

Developer Infrastructure

AWS

Base (Coinbase L2)

Coinbase is not the casino floor.
Coinbase is the vault, the settlement rail, and the toll bridge.

And toll bridges get paid every time someone crosses.

šŸ”„ Meanwhile, Everyone Else Looked at Price Charts

If you’ve been feeling like:

  • You’re early instead of behind

  • You’re seeing something the market hasn’t priced yet

  • You’re thinking in business models, not candles

That’s not an accident.

That’s clarity.

Everyone else is reacting to price movement.
You’re reacting to structural change.

That’s the difference between:

Traders who chase narrative
and
Investors who position before narrative flips.

This COIN moment is an inflection point.

And inflection points never feel comfortable while you’re in them.

They become obvious only after the revaluation happens.

šŸŽÆ The Pragmatic Playbook: How I’m Positioning in COIN

This is not a ā€œbuy nowā€ hype message.
This is process, not excitement.

1. I Do Not Chase Green Candles

If COIN is running in a straight line — I wait.
Momentum is not the friend of accumulation.

2. I Add on Macro Fear Red Days

If Bitcoin retraces and COIN pulls back without business fundamentals changing, that’s opportunity — not danger.

Low-conviction holders panic.
High-conviction investors accumulate.

3. I Anchor on Subscription/Services Growth

As long as recurring revenue continues to expand, the infrastructure story is intact.

If that slows under ~20% for multiple quarters, I pause, not sell — pause.

This keeps conviction rational, not emotional.

🧩 How COIN Fits Into a Portfolio (This Is the Actionable Part)

Here’s the exact way I think about sizing COIN inside a real portfolio — no hype, no bravado, no YOLO positioning:

Tier

Position Size

Purpose

Thinking

Core Exposure

1–3% portfolio weight

Express conviction in long-term infrastructure thesis

Small but meaningful. You’re in the game.

Staged Adds

+0.5% on red macro days

Average in without chasing strength

Let market volatility build your position for you.

Thesis Guardrail

Pause adds if Subscription Revenue slows <20% YoY

Discipline over emotion

Clear data-based stop signal reduces regret & confusion.

This turns the idea into a system, not a hope.

No guessing.
No ā€œfeeling it out.ā€
No tying your emotions to the chart.

You now have:

  • A when to enter

  • A how to add

  • A what tells you to slow down

That’s what real investors operate from.

🧘 The Monday Reset

There are two types of investors:

Those who wait for the market to confirm the story.
and
Those who recognize the story changed long before price did.

One buys certainty at a premium.
The other builds positions at inflection points.

This week reminded me of something simple:

When the market gets noisy, I slow down.
When headlines swing, I stay centered.
When others react, I observe.

My edge doesn’t come from predicting the next candle.
It comes from seeing when the business has already changed.

And Coinbase has already changed.

The market just hasn’t fully priced it yet.

See you Wednesday.

TOGETHER WITH OUR PARTNER

Get in on the markets before tech stocks keep rising

Online stockbrokers have become the go-to way for most people to invest, especially as markets remain volatile and tech stocks keep driving headlines. With just a few taps on an app, everyday investors can trade stocks, ETFs, or even fractional shares—something that used to be limited to Wall Street pros. Check out Money’s list of top-rated online stock brokerages and start investing today!

🧠 Final Thought

There’s a point in every market cycle where the story shifts before the crowd realizes it. Not with a headline, not with a price spike, but with a quiet change in the underlying economics. Coinbase crossed that line already — the business became infrastructure while most investors are still trading it like a mood swing on a chart.

The hard part isn’t spotting the shift. The hard part is trusting what you saw before the market agrees with you. That’s the real work — holding conviction when the signal is clear but the recognition is not. If you can stay centered there, you’ll be early by design, not by accident.

🧠 What did you think of today's newsletter?

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

Stay Sharp,

— AK

Disclaimer: The content on this blog is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as financial, investment, tax, or legal advice. Investing in the stock market involves risks, including the loss of principal. The views expressed here are solely those of the author and do not represent any company or organization. Readers should conduct their own research and due diligence before making any financial decisions. The author and publisher are not responsible for any losses or damages resulting from the use of this information.

Reply

or to participate.