Bitcoin Magazine

Coinbase (COIN) Misses Revenue Estimates as Users Fall, Armstrong Sets Up New Share Sales

Coinbase had a mixed third quarter. Revenue came in at $1.20 billion, below the $1.233 billion analysts expected, according to company filings. Subscription and services revenue did better, reaching $570 million. The company is still heavily tied to trading activity, but its recurring income is growing.

Monthly Transacting Users fell to 7.4 million, down from 9.3 million a year earlier. During its earnings call, Coinbase blamed overall market conditions. Its share of crypto trading volume did rise to 10.7%, the fourth straight quarter of gains, which suggests it is winning business even as the broader market quiets. 

Adjusted EBITDA was $332.9 million, extending a run of 15 straight profitable quarters on that measure. The prediction markets business passed $200 million in annualized revenue, and Coinbase One hit a record number of subscribers.

JUST IN: Coinbase disclosed buying 643 Bitcoin worth $1.5 billion for its balance sheet in Q3 pic.twitter.com/5BYdrwLCJN

— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) October 30, 2026

Coinbase CEO preps share sales

Separately, filings reported on October 30 show CEO Brian Armstrong has set up a plan to sell up to 8.17 million Class A shares. He adopted the plan in August under SEC Rule 10b5-1, which lets executives schedule sales ahead of time. Sales could run from November 16 through October 2027, subject to stock price conditions. Co-founder Fred Ehrsam and President Emilie Choi have similar plans, bringing the total to about 13.6 million shares.

This is not new territory for Armstrong. In the past, VanEck analyst Matthew Sigel tracked about $545.7 million in sales over nine months, starting in April 2025. Armstrong has said these sales are part of his risk management, not a signal about the company.

Coinbase stock slumps nearly 15% 

Coinbase shares (COIN) fell about 15% today, but not necessarily due to this earnings report. 

Binance disclosed a security breach on October 29 that it estimates at $6.3 billion, making it the largest crypto theft on record. Around $3 billion in assets has been frozen so far, with industry partners assisting in the freezes. 

The hackers are allegedly linked to North Korea, though Binance has not attributed the attack to any group. The exchange says it has found no evidence of a leaked wallet private key.

Binance says it has $6.34 billion in reserves available to cover losses. Deposits were unaffected, and the company expects to resume withdrawals within 48 hours. Figures remain preliminary, and estimates vary slightly across outlets.

The market reacted quickly. Bitcoin fell roughly 4.5% to below $77,000. Shares of Strategy (MSTR) fell nearly 10% on the day. Strive (ASST) shares fell over 12% at times. Coinbase’s stock is down over 55% on the year.

This post Coinbase (COIN) Misses Revenue Estimates as Users Fall, Armstrong Sets Up New Share Sales first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

---

Bitcoin Magazine

Coinbase Institutional Co-CEO: Bitcoin’s “Second Wave” of Institutional Capital has Arrived

Seven of the largest banks in the world are now running on Coinbase infrastructure, and Brett Tejpaul, Co-CEO of Coinbase Institutional, says they’re having a “Kodak moment.” He joins Grace Remington and Sean Hagan to explain why the driver has shifted from Bitcoin ETFs to stablecoin payments now that money can move from a Citi account to USDC, across the blockchain in a second, and into a corporate account on the other side. He also gives a candid read on Bitcoin: the macro setup is great, the performance has been disappointing, and institutions aren’t yet treating it as anything but a tech trade.

Chapters:
0:00 Seven of the World’s Largest Banks Are Using Coinbase Infrastructure
1:19 From ETFs to Payments: Citi, USDC and Instant Bank-to-Blockchain Transfers
2:44 $400 Million an Hour in Stablecoins and the Banks’ “Kodak Moment”
4:38 Stablecoins Are a “Speck of Dust”: Payment Providers First, Then Banks
6:10 Agentic Commerce Arriving at the Same Time as the Big Players
6:49 Is Bitcoin Still a Leveraged Tech Trade? “Disappointing” Performance, Great Setup
8:44 Connecting U.S. Funds to Deribit’s 85% Options Market Share
11:06 The Second Wave: Net-New Entrants and Coinbase’s “Amazon to AWS” Pivot
12:57 Activating the Whole U.S. Through Coinbase Infrastructure
13:56 Quantum, 90% ETF Custody Share and “Safe Forever”

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this show are those of the participants and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of BTC Inc., Bitcoin Magazine, or any affiliated entities. This content is provided for informational and educational purposes only and should not be construed as investment, legal, tax, or accounting advice. Nothing contained in this show constitutes a solicitation, recommendation, endorsement, or offer to buy or sell any securities or financial instruments. Viewers should consult their own advisors before making financial or business decisions.

This post Coinbase Institutional Co-CEO: Bitcoin’s “Second Wave” of Institutional Capital has Arrived first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Patrick Green.

Bitcoin Magazine

Central Bank of Ireland Fines Coinbase Unit €3.25 Million Over Customer Fund Safeguarding Failures

The Central Bank of Ireland has fined Coinbase Ireland Limited €3.25 million ($3.65 million) for failing to safeguard customer funds and for leaning on its US parent to run compliance functions it was supposed to control itself. 

The regulator announced the penalty on Thursday, one day after it reached a settlement with the Coinbase subsidiary.

The breaches ran from November 2020 to August 2025 under Ireland’s Electronic Money Regulations. Coinbase Ireland, an e-money institution, issues the euro and dollar balances European customers use to buy bitcoin and other crypto assets on the Coinbase platform. 

The law requires those balances to sit in dedicated safeguarding accounts, walled off from corporate money and from customers of other Coinbase entities.

Coinbase’s three failures 

The Central Bank found three failures. Coinbase Ireland placed “excessive reliance” on its US-based group to design and run its safeguarding controls, and it lacked the local expertise to oversee that work. 

Its safeguarding account was underfunded “for lengthy periods of time” because of poor system design and weak control testing. And it had no adequate process to flag material changes in its safeguarding practices to the regulator.

That last point drew the sharpest language from Karen O’Leary, the Central Bank’s director of enforcement. The regulator said the exchange Ireland promised “robust and automated safeguards” when it sought authorisation in 2019, and that the firm’s practices drifted from those commitments without notice.

“Failing to adhere to the assurances made during the authorisation process or to inform us of material changes as happened in this case is completely unacceptable,” O’Leary said. “Payment and e-money firms have a fundamental obligation to fully safeguard customers’ funds. The Central Bank has made its supervisory expectations in this regard clear: we have no tolerance for weaknesses in safeguarding arrangements.”

The Central Bank set the base penalty at €4.65 million and applied a 30% discount for settling. The fine and a reprimand await confirmation from Ireland’s High Court. It is the regulator’s 164th enforcement outcome, bringing its lifetime fines past €432 million.

Coinbase’s response

In a blog post, Coinbase said it self-reported “many of the items described in the settlement” in January 2024 and fixed most of the underlying control issues that same year. The company stressed that no customer lost money or lost access to funds.

Coinbase laid out five problem areas. During the March 2023 US banking crisis, as Silvergate Bank neared collapse, Coinbase Ireland directed 30 customers to deposit dollars into a Coinbase, Inc. account at another US bank, mixing their funds with those of a separate Coinbase entity. 

After Brexit forced the migration of European customers from the company’s UK affiliate, some kept sending deposits to the old UK accounts. Euro withdrawals for US and UK customers of other Coinbase units were at times paid out of the Irish safeguarding account for liquidity reasons, the exchange said.  

Coding errors in an internal dashboard left the safeguarding account underfunded by an average of roughly 0.54% of its total obligation through 2023 and the first half of 2024. And the firm did not tell the Central Bank about changes to its practices.

A daily “Treasury Rebalancing Process” moved funds back into the correct account each day, the exchange said, but that did not prevent the initial commingling.

“These issues largely arose in the context of Coinbase taking steps to protect customers during periods of significant disruption,” a company spokesperson told Reuters.

The exchange said it has since redesigned its safeguarding calculation, passed two third-party validations with no open findings, posted a €25 million guaranty bond and hired a dedicated head of safeguarding.

Second Irish fine in a year

The penalty follows a €21.5 million fine the Central Bank imposed on Coinbase Europe in November 2025 for failing to monitor more than 30 million transactions for money laundering and terrorist financing risk. 

That unit’s Irish registration lapsed at the end of 2025 as the exchange shifted its European headquarters to Luxembourg under a MiCA license from the country’s financial regulator.

Coinbase is the largest US crypto exchange and the world’s biggest custodian of bitcoin, holding coins on behalf of most US spot bitcoin ETFs. 

This post Central Bank of Ireland Fines Coinbase Unit €3.25 Million Over Customer Fund Safeguarding Failures first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

Bitcoin Magazine

Coinbase’s Ryan VanGrack: CFTC Approval “Opens Many Doors” for Bitcoin

The SEC’s proposed custody rules could make it easier for investment advisors to help clients own Bitcoin directly. Coinbase’s Ryan VanGrack explains why institutional capital tends to flow where there are clearer rules, and why he sees direct ownership and ETFs as “both and, not either or.” He also shares why traditional finance is accelerating its push into Bitcoin and digital assets.

Chapters:
00:00 Coinbase Wins CFTC Approval for Its Own Clearinghouse
01:29 Can SEC Guidance Last Without the Clarity Act?
02:40 SEC Custody Proposal: Helping Advisors Hold Bitcoin Directly
04:14 Tokenization: The Biggest Upgrade Since Electronic Trading
05:41 How Tokenization Cuts Out Wall Street’s Middlemen
07:34 What Washington Still Needs to Fix for Bitcoin Holders
08:56 Institutional Adoption Accelerates After the Clarity Act Vote
11:07 How Coinbase Is Bringing Digital Asset Infrastructure to Community Banks
12:01 Sponsor: Square
12:34 Is Crypto Really a Tool for Illicit Finance?

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this show are those of the participants and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of BTC Inc., Bitcoin Magazine, or any affiliated entities. This content is provided for informational and educational purposes only and should not be construed as investment, legal, tax, or accounting advice. Nothing contained in this show constitutes a solicitation, recommendation, endorsement, or offer to buy or sell any securities or financial instruments. Viewers should consult their own advisors before making financial or business decisions.

This post Coinbase’s Ryan VanGrack: CFTC Approval “Opens Many Doors” for Bitcoin first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Patrick Green.

Bitcoin Magazine

Coinbase Business Chief: Big Banks Increasing BTC Exposure | Shan Aggarwal

New SEC rules could open the door for financial advisors to hold Bitcoin for their clients, and Coinbase is already at the center of that custody story. Shan Aggarwal, Coinbase’s first-ever Chief Business Officer, explains how Coinbase custodies most of the Bitcoin ETFs and supports the advisor community. He sees the advisor rule as expanding the pie for Bitcoin access, with Coinbase providing the infrastructure behind it.

Chapters:
00:00 How the SEC’s New Advisor Rules Could Bring Bitcoin to Wealth Managers
01:13 What BlackRock and JPMorgan Want From Bitcoin Infrastructure
02:16 What Will Drive the Next Wave of Bitcoin Adoption
03:28 Can the Coinbase One Card Turn Spenders Into Bitcoin Owners?
04:22 Coinbase’s Trillion-Dollar Stablecoin Opportunity
05:14 Coinbase and Citi Bring Stablecoin Payments to Merchants
05:56 Sponsor: SALT Lending
06:26 How Coinbase Customers Are Using Bitcoin Lightning
07:37 Will AI Agents Pay in Bitcoin or Stablecoins?
08:30 Coinbase Expands Into Collectibles and Everyday Bitcoin Rewards

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this show are those of the participants and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of BTC Inc., Bitcoin Magazine, or any affiliated entities. This content is provided for informational and educational purposes only and should not be construed as investment, legal, tax, or accounting advice. Nothing contained in this show constitutes a solicitation, recommendation, endorsement, or offer to buy or sell any securities or financial instruments. Viewers should consult their own advisors before making financial or business decisions.

This post Coinbase Business Chief: Big Banks Increasing BTC Exposure | Shan Aggarwal first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Patrick Green.