Glassdoor/Coinbase
- One of the largest platforms for buying cryptocurrencies is making money hand-over-fist.
- Tech publication Recode reported Monday that Coinbase saw revenues top $1 billion last year.
Coinbase, one the largest platforms for buying and selling cryptocurrencies, is reportedly making money hand-over-fist.
Recode, the technology publication, reported Monday the San Francisco-based company saw revenues top $1 billion last year, driven by explosive volumes in the market for digital currencies.
"The company's valuation has likely at least doubled since its last valuation of $1.6 billion in August," the Recode report said. "Coinbase was only expected to do about $600 million in yearly revenue as of September 30, according to people with knowledge of the figures, but bitcoin's run between Thanksgiving and Christmas boosted the company's 2017 revenue to over $1 billion."
Exchanges make their money from trading volume, when coins change hands between investors. Market-wide, trading volumes have held steady above $25 billion a day since late November as cryptocurrencies have gripped the attention of Wall Street and Main Street alike.
New users have fueled this growth, in part. Sources told Business Insider that Kraken, another exchange, was adding around 50,000 new users a day at the end of 2017. Over the US Thanksgiving holiday, Business Insider reported that Coinbase added 100,000 users in just three days. Some exchanges have had to completely stop onboarding new users to deal with the demand.
A Coinbase representative did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.