Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN) reported $1.2 billion in second-quarter revenue for the period ended June 30, falling short of the $1.3 billion analysts had expected in an LSEG (LSE: LSEG) survey. The loss reached $1.36 per share, far worse than the 17-cent loss Wall Street had anticipated. Shares declined more than 7% in after-hours trading following the announcement.

The quarter marked Coinbase's third consecutive miss on both revenue and profit forecasts. The company posted a net loss of $359.5 million, compared to a $1.43 billion profit in the same period a year earlier. Earnings per share swung from $5.14 last year to a $1.36 loss, while revenue declined from $1.5 billion to $1.2 billion. The persistent misses come as the largest US-listed crypto exchange navigates a period of uneven digital asset trading volumes, which have fluctuated since the industry's 2024 rally cooled.

Trading Weakness Weighs on Revenue as Subscription Push Continues

Bitcoin spent much of Q2 range-bound, and while market conditions improved relative to Q1, spot bitcoin ETFs experienced an extended stretch of outflows.

Both of Coinbase's largest revenue streams contracted. Transaction revenue came in at $599 million, while subscriptions and services contributed $555 million — both below analyst estimates and lower year over year. The near-parity between the two streams underscores how far Coinbase has shifted from its original commission-dependent model: subscription and services revenue, which includes stablecoin interest, staking, and blockchain rewards, now accounts for roughly 46% of total revenue. That diversification is central to Coinbase's effort to weather trading slumps, though it has yet to fully offset the decline in transaction-based income.

Stablecoin revenue totaled $292 million, down $17 million from the same quarter in 2025 and below the $327.2 million StreetAccount estimate.

CEO Brian Armstrong said Coinbase reached a new record for its share of crypto trading activity and emphasized the company's resilience across market cycles. In the earnings release, he stated, "Coinbase is no longer a bet just on the price of bitcoin." Armstrong added, "All of financial services are getting updated by crypto, whether that's trading or payments or lending," calling Coinbase the best-positioned company to provide that infrastructure.

Earnings Call: Retail Engagement, AI Agents, and Growth Strategy

During the earnings call, Brian Jung of Jung Media asked why Coinbase appeared to be reconnecting with retail and crypto-native users after Armstrong appeared on Market Bubble and Cobie took control of the Base App.

Armstrong responded, "Yeah, so we have lots of different groups that like to use Coinbase, and build on top of the Base Chain is even probably a broader group. And so, you know, we try to make an effort to connect with all of them. It's really a pretty diverse group of people that use Coinbase, right? There's the largest, like, GSIB banks in the world are building on our infrastructure."

Austin Hankwitz of Grit Capital asked whether AI agents would prioritize Coinbase's reputation or simply choose the cheapest and fastest network. He noted that more than 90% of agent-driven stablecoin transaction volume currently settles on Base. Armstrong said price would matter but would not be the sole factor. "AI agents are probably going to care about a similar set of things that humans would," he said.

Armstrong noted that Base provides settlements for less than one cent in under a second. He added that automated clients will also require security, liquidity, legality, reliability, and uptime — comparing the decision to selecting Amazon's (NASDAQ: AMZN) AWS for cloud infrastructure. "Trust will continue to be important in that world," he said, confirming that Coinbase plans to welcome AI agents as customers. The emphasis on Base reflects a broader industry push by Layer 2 networks to capture on-chain activity as decentralized finance applications and automated trading agents expand.

Eric Pan of Ericnomics asked where Coinbase expects growth now that bitcoin-linked transaction revenue has fallen from more than half of total company sales to 12%.

Armstrong said, "At any given time in trading, there's always something that's up and something that's down. That's part of the Everything Exchange strategy. You've got to have all the shelves stocked so you have the inventory when that thing trends that week. And then on the non-trading fee side with subscription and services, we've seen good growth of that over the past years as well."

He explained that Coinbase aims to offer enough products so customers can trade whatever becomes popular at a given time, spreading trading-fee income across a wider range of assets and products. Subscription and service fees are intended to make revenue more predictable.

Chief Financial Officer Alesia Haas said paid Coinbase One memberships hit a record during the quarter despite falling crypto trading volume. "We saw an all-time high in paid Coinbase One subscribers this quarter," she said, noting that members tend to use more of the platform's products, giving Coinbase another avenue for engagement beyond trading.

Ken Worthing of JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) asked whether Coinbase's deal with Hyperliquid gives large USDC holders too much of the stablecoin's economics.

Haas said institutions can hold USDC on Coinbase and earn rewards, while retail users can do the same through Coinbase One. She said Hyperliquid was treated like any other customer, though its role in perpetual futures and market-making made the relationship significant. Coinbase was willing to share revenue because deeper integration of USDC within Hyperliquid could increase liquidity, usage, and adoption across the broader network.

Armstrong said the company will continue investing in that effort. He noted that USDC already ranks first for stablecoin transaction volume and first among regulated stablecoins, though it remains second to Tether by market capitalization when less-regulated products are included. The outcome of that competition could shape which stablecoin anchors future payment rails and on-chain settlement as institutional adoption of digital assets progresses.