Crypto Exchanges
By Dan Saada
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Coinbase Bets Big on USDC. Coinbase's clearest move is into stablecoins. The exchange boosted USDC rewards heading into the…
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Gemini's Prediction Market Push. Gemini went a different direction. The exchange leaned into prediction markets, increasing the…
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Bullish Launches Rewards, Eyes Tokenized Securities. Bullish is the odd one out here. It's the only exchange of the three that grew trading revenue…
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Trading fees are drying up. Coinbase, Gemini, and Bullish all reported drops in trading income during the second quarter, and each is scrambling — in pretty different ways — to…
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The numbers are rough across the board. Coinbase saw transaction revenue fall 22%, with spot trading volume down 35%.
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Spot volume is down hard. Derivatives, at least for Coinbase, edged slightly higher.
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Coinbase's clearest move is into stablecoins. The exchange boosted USDC rewards heading into the third quarter, and average USDC holdings on the platform climbed 44%…
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But Coinbase also cut costs. Hard. In May, the company reduced staff by 14%. So the picture is kind of two-sided: slash expenses on one end, push new product incentives on the…
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The derivatives uptick is worth watching too. A slight increase in derivatives trading while spot volume fell 35% isn't a reversal — it's a hint.
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Gemini went a different direction. The exchange leaned into prediction markets, increasing the number of market makers and rolling out rebates for both firms and individual users.
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Related: Clearpool and Cicada Partners Launch RLUSD Lending Product Despite XRP Ledger Delay
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That's a pretty modest number for a near-doubling of volume. It suggests the rebate program is eating into margins — by design, probably, since Gemini seems to be buying market…
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Gemini also saw improvement in fee economics across both retail and institutional segments, even as overall revenue fell.
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Still, a 27% revenue drop and a 66% collapse in trading volume are hard to spin. Gemini's in a tough spot, and the prediction market bet is either a smart pivot or an expensive…
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Bullish is the odd one out here. It's the only exchange of the three that grew trading revenue year-over-year, despite the 21% quarterly dip in adjusted transaction revenue.
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