Coinbase Boosts Active User Forecast, Reports Q1 Results Inline With Preview

Coinbase, issuing its first quarterly earnings report as a public company, reported Q1 results largely in line with its preliminary announcement made early last month. The U.S.' largest cryptocurrency exchange boosted its year forecast range for active users, a key metric.

For the Q1, Coinbase reported:

• Net income $771.5 million, preliminary $730 million to $800 million.
• Adjusted EBITDA $1.12 billion, preliminary $1.1 billion.
• Revenue $1.8 billion with $1.54 billion from transaction revenue and $56.4 million from Subscriptions and Services revenue, preliminary $1.8 billion.
• Transaction revenue from institutions increased eightfold from $10 million in Q1 2020 to $85 million in Q1 2021.
• Growth in custodial fee, earn campaign, and staking revenues. Custodial fee revenue was $23.5 million or 41.6% of what the firm made in subscriptions and services. Staking followed with $10.3 million, and $4 million of staking revenue came from the Bison Trails acquisition.
• Total operating expenses were $813 million in the quarter. The exchange spent the most on transaction expenses, which cost $234.1 million.
• Coinbase had 1,717 employees at the end of the quarter, a 96% increase from the same period last year.
• The exchange had 6.1 million Monthly Transacting Users (MTUs), matching the preliminary figure.
• Trading volume was at $335 billion; $120 billion from retail trading and $215 billion from institutional trading.
• The company boosted its year forecast range for MTUs to 5.5 million to 9 million, up from its earlier predicted range of 4 million to 7 million.
• Average net revenue per user has been $34 to $45 during the past two years, the company said. The low part of that range occurred in 2019.

For Q2, Coinbase said it expects all of its business metrics to meet or exceed the results recorded in Q1. Q2 trading volume will “slightly” exceed Q1 trading volume if it persists at the same pace, the company said.

Coinbase expects $35 million in one-time expenses related to its direct listing. It also expects between $1.3 billion to $1.6 billion costs from its technology and its development expenses general and administrative expenses in the full year 2021.