Hottest Trend: How to Monetize a Stablecoin Startup Successfully?

By: blockbeats|2025/03/28 07:00:03
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原文标题:Resolv 2025 and Beyond
原文作者:@Iv4n_Ko,@ResolvLabs 创始人
原文编译:zhouzhou,BlockBeats

编者按:这篇文章探讨了稳定币发展的关键问题,如收益来源、风险隔离和分发策略。作者指出,仅依赖有限的市场容量和集中化交易所的策略存在天花板,因此需要更多元的收益渠道(如 LSTs、LRTs 等)和去中心化的风险管理机制。通过引入类似 Tranching 的方式,将风险分层,使稳定币更加稳健。同时,文章强调了网络效应和分发渠道的重要性,认为未来稳定币的竞争将在合规性和全球扩张能力上展开。

以下为原文内容(为便于阅读理解,原内容有所整编):

我们习惯了稳定币市场领导者是「交易型」的。确实,USDT 和 USDC 在支付和进出场方面表现出色。然而,我们仅仅触及了一个潜在更大使用场景的表面。这个被低估的叙事是「投资型」稳定币,由更广泛的加密原生回报驱动。它们替代了传统的金库,成为了稳定加密收益的完美渠道。

通过采用灵活的混合方式来获取这些收益,Resolv 的目标是建立真正的收益动力中心。我们的目标是提供全方位投资解决方案的基础设施,随着行业的成长而发展。这是我们的专业领域,也是我们的激情所在。

收益型稳定币市场将变得庞大,因为加密货币可以成为一个极好的 alpha 来源,且资产基础是全球性的。然而,仍然有两个主要障碍阻碍了这一潜力的增长:可扩展性和风险。可扩展性受限,因为链上市场相对较小——收益压缩得很快。

加密货币风险依然是传统金融领域人们心中的「梦魇」:对于许多人来说,即使是高出 5 倍的回报,也不足以「接触加密货币」。我们需要构建一个能够随市场扩展的收益生成解决方案,同时保持加密相关风险在可控范围内。

Hottest Trend: How to Monetize a Stablecoin Startup Successfully?

收益扩展

那么,我们如何提升支持稳定币回报的收益来源的可扩展性呢?

虽然有些过于简化,但答案是:

·选择最具可扩展性的来源

·增加收益来源的数量

Delta 中性策略作为支撑是一个很好的收益来源,它主要依赖于永久期货,而期货市场非常庞大。其交易量是现货市场的 5 到 10 倍。未平仓合约也很可观:比特币约 600 亿美元,以太坊约 100 亿美元(尽管最近下降了近 3 倍),Solana 约 50 亿美元。

然而,这里仍然存在一个瓶颈。如果你拿这三种资产来看,市场的实际容量(在感受到显著影响之前)大约是 200 亿美元。这是不错的,但如果我们想要构建更大规模并面向未来,这还不够。

更重要的是,与中心化交易所(期货交易所在这里进行)对手方敞口限制,以及去中心化交易所的流动性,限制了任何单一策略操作员的机会。更不用说,如果由单一实体持有大多数头寸,这将带来巨大的系统性风险。

用通俗的话说,这意味着我们需要多元化。而不仅仅是在单一的 delta 中性策略中,跨底层资产和交易所进行多元化。

这些来源可以是不同的:从 LSTs(质押型代币)和 LRTs(流动性提供型代币)到借贷市场。这些来源可以由外部提供商和项目创建,由第三方运营,并由专门的风险管理人员进行监管。我们还可以解决流动性碎片化问题——因为这些来源都支持单一的稳定币,从而推动流动性飞轮。

要使其运作,我们需要一个模块化的方法和以链上为中心的架构。你可能会问:「好吧,你们只是把一堆加密货币收益组合起来,看看效果如何吗?」

答案并非如此。

我们肯定会看到更多项目在收益型稳定币领域进行构建。而且会有不同的收益来源——从 delta 中性到 MEV、AI 代理和高频交易策略。尽管不深入探讨具体解决方案的可扩展性问题,但它们将有一个共同点——风险暴露(尽管每个来源的具体风险会不同)。

这就引出了下一个话题——风险隔离。

风险隔离

每个收益来源都有一套特定的风险。例如,在 delta 中性策略中,主要风险是资金利率波动(持有永久期货可能导致损失,进而影响稳定币的挂钩)和对手方风险(无论是 CEX 还是 DEX)。

其他来源也会有其独特的风险。当你将多个不同来源结合起来支持稳定币时,你将面临较高的脱钩风险。而一旦失去挂钩,稳定币的「终结」就会到来——过去我们已经多次见证了这种情况的发生。稳定币是无法容忍亏损的。

如果你将这些不同的来源混合在一起,就无法创造出一个稳定的产品。

解决方案是将风险隔离到一个单独的工具中,该工具将吸收可能发生的损失。


这个工具将比稳定币更具波动性,但会提供更高的回报。在传统金融中,这个概念被称为「分层」(tranching)。

Resolv 采用这种方法来遏制收益来源的风险。

在这种情况下,稳定币(USR)是高级分层,而一个单独的代币(RLP)则充当低级分层的角色。实际上,RLP 作为一个可扩展的去中心化外部保险基金。

稳定币项目通常都有某种形式的保险基金,但它们是内部的:这些基金坐落在项目的财政库中,规模有限(你需要为它们单独筹集资金并支付利息),透明度较低且比较僵化。

外部化的保险基金,比如 RLP,随着 USR 一起增长,自我平衡,透明,并由市场驱动。

RLP 从协议总 TVL(USR 和 RLP 的总 TVL)中获得一部分收益,由于 RLP TVL 只是其中的一小部分,RLP 获得的回报超出预期。这种效应可以看作是内置的杠杆,而没有 USR 的资产基础是无法复现的。

此外,RLP 是流动的,并且集成在借贷市场和收益剥离协议中。想象一下,如果你的 delta 中性策略有了这个工具。

[对于像我们这样的金融爱好者,更多的背景信息:未来,我们可能会有针对不同风险敞口类型的单独 RLP 代币。可能会有「Binance RLP」来处理信用风险(可以类比传统金融中的信用违约掉期),或是「HyperLiquid RLP」,处理智能合约风险。全新的市场和可交易的风险工具可以由此创造出来。]

简而言之,我们能够将特定策略的风险剥离,并以高收益的 RLP 代币形式将这些风险卖给市场。

通过手中拥有「高于平均水平的加密驱动回报,但不涉及加密相关风险」,我们可以加大向更保守用户群体的分发力度。

分发

分发至关重要。未来的加密竞争将会在这里胜负。坦白说,我认为稳定币在这里会占据优势,无论是在加密货币领域,还是在传统金融领域。在加密领域,稳定币作为完美的流动性飞轮,推动着区块链和项目的 TVL。它们已经拥有了成熟的产品市场契合度。

如果将稳定币与传统金融的结构化产品进行比较,稳定币几乎在每个方面都更优:流动性、可转移性、资本效率(你可以将它们作为抵押品并创造杠杆)、自我托管。

让我们尝试将潜在用户想象成一个连续的光谱。


在左侧是加密原生用户、农民和强力用户,右侧是某些人把现金藏在枕头下的老人(以及一些保守的家族办公室和对冲基金)。随着我们沿着这个光谱移动,我们会接触到更多的「粘性」用户。

从流动性飞轮和加密原生机制开始,目标是通过渗透更多的传统轨道(如新型银行)持续向右移动。这是我们未来几年的主要目标,随着全球许可的逐步推进和建立。

在加密领域,网络效应提供了超额回报,因此能够将其他市场参与者转化为你的分销代理是巨大的优势。

通过让第三方参与收益生成(作为策略发起者或风险管理者),Resolv 正在扩大网络效应。看看 Morpho 如何通过风险管理者引入新的产品机会和流动性,从而促进增长。再比如 Pendle,流动性飞轮推动项目整合,进一步增加网络效应。

我们看到许多项目试图通过掌控价值生成的各个阶段来构建「垂直护城河」,将经济利益掌握在自己手中,但也因此变得无法与其他项目进行合作和扩展。

与此相反,我们将建立「横向护城河」,在这个过程中分发和收入生成将惠及所有参与者。我们希望在这一过程中保持尽可能的中立,以优化产品的最佳输出。

稳定币天生就具有分发优势,而网络效应则进一步扩大了这种优势。

关于相关性的说明

对于任何加密项目来说,都有一个「房间里的大象」——那就是护城河、保持与市场同步的能力以及保持相关性。我们认为这是一个巨大的问题,因为许多项目在几年的叙事后逐渐消失在无名之中。为了在超级动态的加密市场中领先于竞争对手,你必须能够整合新的收益来源,并利用新兴的叙事。这正是我们通过模块化方法所能实现的。

不要忘记,代币激励也是加密收益的一个重要来源。流动性从一个项目转移到另一个项目,寻找初期流动性激励的掉落和巨额 APY。通过将流动性分配到更广泛的收益来源(项目),我们也能够捕捉到这一部分。

路线图

展望未来,看到大事如何发展总是令人兴奋,但眼前还有很多具体工作要做。让我们看看接下来几个月的计划。

我们的计划与前面提到的关键要素相一致——这些要素包括收益来源、风险和分发。

首先要提到的是,我们正在与 Superstate 进行整合,这一过程目前正在进行中。这是我们首个与第三方收益来源的合作案例,通过这种合作,我们可以受益于更稳定和多样化的资金利率。

为了拓宽资产基础,我们将把 BTC 作为基础资产添加到我们的组合中。我们专注于链上的方法使我们能够在稳定币支持中使用不同的 BTC LSTs / LRTs,因此预计会有更多的合作伙伴关系以及由相关解决方案驱动的更高回报。

在分发方面,我们的目标是将我们的产品投放到需求最强的地方,因此扩展到新的链和新兴生态系统是我们增长的一个重要部分。目前,我们在 Base 上的 TVL 已经超过 1.5 亿美元,并且我们对 HyperBullish 充满信心,但更多的进展还在路上。

此外,不要忘记其他分发渠道,如钱包和 CEX(关于这一点,更多的消息将很快传来)。另一大流动性来源来自于加密项目的财政储备(由像 Karpatkey 这样的资产管理公司管理),以及支持其他稳定币的资金。

原文链接

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Never Underestimate the Significance of the US Stablecoin 'Infrastructure Bill'

Original Title: "Never Underestimate the Significance of the US Stablecoin 'Genius Act'"Original Author: 0xTodd, Partner at Nothing Research


If the US stablecoin bill, the "GENIUS Act," passes smoothly this time, its significance will be tremendous. I even think it's significant enough to enter the top five in Crypto history.



Although abbreviated as the GENIUS Act, which translates directly to the Genius Act, it is actually the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins, which translates to "Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Dollar Stablecoins."


The proposal is lengthy, with several key points summarized for everyone:


· Mandatory 1:1 Full Asset Backing: Assets include cash, demand deposits, and short-term US Treasuries. At the same time, misappropriation and rehypothecation are strictly prohibited.


· High-Frequency Disclosure: Reserve reports must be published at least monthly, introducing external audits.


· Licensing Requirement: Once the circulating market cap of the issuer's stablecoin exceeds $100 billion, it must transition into the federal regulatory system within a specified timeframe, adopting banking-grade regulation.


· Introduction of Custody: The custodian of the stablecoin and its reserve assets must be a regulated qualified financial institution.


· Clear Definition as a Payment Medium: The bill explicitly defines stablecoin as a new type of payment medium, primarily regulated by the banking regulatory system, rather than restricted by the securities or commodities regulatory system.


· Embracing Existing Stablecoins: A maximum 18-month grace period after the bill's enactment, aimed at encouraging existing stablecoin issuers (such as USDT, USDC, etc.) to promptly obtain licenses or become compliant.


After finishing the main content, let's talk about the significance of this matter with an excited heart.


Over the years, when others asked, "After working in the Crypto industry for 16 years, what application have you created?"


In the future, you can confidently tell others—Stablecoins.


First, Clearing Concerns is a Prerequisite


Some people have held opposing views. In the past, people's impression of stablecoins was that they were an opaque black box. Every few months, there would be FUD — whether Tether's assets were frozen or Circle had a significant black hole deficit.


In fact, if you think about it, Tether easily rakes in billions of dollars a year just from the interest on those underlying government bonds. Circle, slightly less, also made a $1.7 billion profit last year.


They basically made money while standing there. From a motivational standpoint, they have no malicious intentions. In fact, they are the most eager for compliance.


Now, this opaque black box will become a transparent white box.


In the past, the only complaint was that Tether's funds might have been frozen by the United States. Now, they will be directly placed into U.S. compliant custodial institutions, with high-frequency disclosures, so you can rest assured.


【No need to worry about a rug pull】 is such a huge advantage—I think especially all Crypto people understand this.


Second, Mastering the Standard is Very Important


Stablecoins were once almost on the verge of being overtaken by CBDCs. In any country, if a central bank digital currency really exists, it is highly likely not built on a blockchain, at most it is built on some internal central bank consortium chain, which to be honest, is meaningless.


When CBDCs were at their peak, that was the most dangerous time for stablecoins.


If CBDCs had become a reality back then, stablecoins today would have been relentlessly suppressed into a dark corner, and blockchain would only be able to play a minimal role.


The remaining half-dead stablecoins would even have to learn the standards of central bank digital currencies, completely relinquishing their standard-setting power.


And now, stablecoins have won (or are about to).


Instead, everyone should learn the 【Blockchain + Token】 standard.


Nowadays, many blockchains actually have no meaningful applications on top, only stablecoin transfers. For example, with Aptos, the only scenario I use Aptos for is transfers between Binance and OKX.


And now, stablecoins will be legislated, what does that mean?


That's right, blockchain will become the only standard.


In the future, every stablecoin user will be the first to learn how to use a wallet.


As an aside, I actually think Ethereum's concerted push for EIP-7702 is quite forward-thinking. While other chains are all about memes, thank you Ethereum for sticking to account abstraction.



EIP-7702 is about Account Abstraction, which can support, for example:


· Social Account Registration Wallet

· Paying GAS with Native Coin

· And more


This paves the way for future new users to heavily use stablecoins, solving the last-mile problem.


Third, Deposit Enters a New Era


Furthermore, once stablecoins receive legislative support, deposits and withdrawals will become even easier.


Let's imagine a scenario: previously, hindered by the gray nature of stablecoins, but after the bill passes, many traditional brokerages can support stablecoins themselves. The money from a US stock investor can be converted into stablecoins in minutes and instantly deposited into Coinbase. Believe it or not.



Let's imagine another scenario: if the brilliant bill smoothly passes through the House of Representatives, next, you will see:


Due to the extremely lucrative nature of this trading, existing stablecoin leaders and newly entering traditional giants will crazily start promoting their stablecoin products.


And an outsider, due to these promotions, will start using stablecoins. And then one day, after finding out that the wallet account has been created, will explore Bitcoin inside. Is mining Bitcoin difficult?


Stablecoins are a huge Trojan horse. The moment you start using stablecoins, you unwittingly step half a foot into the Crypto world.


Fourth, Conclusion


As a large reservoir for digesting US debt, although stablecoins cannot directly absorb debt, they at least provide ammunition for the US debt secondary market. These functions are quite important, and slowly, stablecoins are becoming a part of the US debt market's body. Therefore, once the US legislation is passed and experiences the benefits, there is no turning back.


And, we are also confident that stablecoins are indeed one of the great innovations in our industry. People who have used stablecoins will find it hard to return to the traditional cash-banking system.


Once the bill is passed, users can't go back. In the future, concerns are about to be resolved, standards will be mastered, and the era of large deposits seems to be on the horizon.


Original Article Link

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$COIN Joins S&P 500, but Coinbase Isn't Celebrating

On May 13, S&P Dow Jones Indices announced that Coinbase would officially replace Discover Financial Services in the S&P 500 on May 19. While other companies like Block and MicroStrategy, closely tied to Bitcoin, were already part of the S&P 500, Coinbase became the first cryptocurrency exchange whose primary business is in the index. This also signifies that cryptocurrency is gradually moving from the fringes to the mainstream in the U.S.



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Coincidentally, Discover Financial Services, being replaced by Coinbase, can also be considered the "Coinbase" of the previous payment era. Discover is a U.S.-based digital banking and payment services company headquartered in Illinois, founded in 1960. Its payment network, Discover Network, is the fourth largest payment network apart from Visa, Mastercard, and American Express.


In April, after the approval of the acquisition of Discover by the sixth-largest U.S. bank, Capital One, this well-established digital banking company of over 60 years smoothly handed over its S&P 500 "seat" to this emerging cryptocurrency "bank." This unexpected coincidence also portrayed the handover between the new and old eras in Coinbase's entry into the S&P 500, resembling a relay race scene. However, this relay baton also brought Coinbase's accumulated "external troubles and internal strife" to a tipping point.


Side Effects of ETFs


Over the past decade, cryptocurrency exchanges have been the most stable "profit machines." They play a role in providing liquidity to the entire industry and rely on trading fees to sustain their operations. However, with the comprehensive rollout of ETF products in the U.S. market, this profit model is facing unprecedented challenges. As the leader in the "American stack," with over 80% of its business coming from the U.S., Coinbase is most affected by this.



Starting from the approval of Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETFs, traditional financial capital has significantly onboarded users and funds that originally belonged to exchanges in a more cost-effective, compliant, and transparent manner. The transaction fee revenue of cryptocurrency exchanges has started to decline, and this trend may further intensify in the coming months.


According to Coinbase's 2024 Q4 financial report, the platform's total trading revenue was $417 million, a 45% year-on-year decrease. The contribution of BTC and ETH's trading revenue dropped from 65% in the same period last year to less than 50%.


This decline is not a result of a decrease in market enthusiasm. In fact, since the approval of the Bitcoin ETF in January 2024, the inflow of BTC into the U.S. market has continued to reach new highs, with asset management giants like BlackRock and Fidelity rapidly expanding their management scale. Data shows that BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin ETF (IBIT) alone has surpassed $17 billion in assets under management. As of mid-May 2025, the cumulative net inflow of 11 major institutional Bitcoin spot ETFs on the market has exceeded $41.5 billion, with a total net asset value of $1214.69 billion, accounting for approximately 5.91% of the total Bitcoin market capitalization.


Chart showing the trend of net outflows for Grayscale among the 11 institutions


Institutional investors and some retail investors are shifting towards ETF products, partly due to compliance and tax considerations. On one hand, ETFs have much lower trading costs compared to cryptocurrency exchanges. While Coinbase's spot trading fee rate varies annually in a tiered manner but averages around 1.49%, for example, the management fee for IBIT ETF is only 0.25%, and the majority of ETF institution fees fluctuate around 0.15% to 0.25%.



In other words, the more rational users are, the more likely they are to move from exchanges to ETF products, especially for investors aiming for long-term holdings.


According to multiple sources, several institutions, including VanEck and Grayscale, have submitted applications to the SEC for a Solana (SOL) ETF, with some institutions also planning to submit an XRP ETF proposal. Once approved, this may trigger a new round of fund migration. According to a report submitted by Coinbase to the SEC, as of April, the platform's trading revenue from XRP and Solana accounted for 18% and 10%, nearly one-third of the platform's fee revenue.



However, the Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs passed in 2024 also reduced the fees for these two tokens on Coinbase from 30% and 15% to 26% and 10%, respectively. If the SOL and XRP ETFs are approved, it will further undermine the core fee revenue of exchanges like Coinbase.


The expansion of ETF products is gradually weakening the financial intermediary status of cryptocurrency exchanges. From their original roles as matchmakers and clearers to now gradually becoming mere "on-ramps and off-ramps" for funds, exchanges are seeing their marginal value squeezed by ETFs.


Robinhood Takes a Stand, Traditional Brokerages Join the Fray


On May 12, 2025, SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins gave a keynote speech at the Tokenization and Cryptocurrency Working Group roundtable. The theme of his speech revolved around "It is a new day at the SEC," where he indicated that the SEC would not approach enforcement and regulation the same way as before but would instead pave the way for cryptocurrency assets in the U.S. market.



With signs of cryptocurrency compliance such as the SEC's "NEW DAY" declaration, an increasing number of traditional brokerages are attempting to enter the cryptocurrency industry. One of the most representative cases is the well-known U.S. brokerage Robinhood, which began expanding its crypto business in 2018. By the time of its IPO in 2021, Robinhood's crypto business revenue accounted for over 50% of the company, with a significant boost from the Dogecoin "moonshot" promoted by Musk.


In Q1 2025 earnings report, Robinhood showcased strong growth, especially in revenue from cryptocurrency and options trading. Fueled by Trump's Memecoin, cryptocurrency-related revenue reached $250 million, nearly doubling year-over-year. Consequently, Robinhood Gold subscription users reached 3.5 million, a 90% increase from the previous year, with the rapid growth of Robinhood Gold providing the company with a stable source of income.



Meanwhile, RobinHood is actively pursuing acquisitions in the cryptocurrency space. In 2024, it announced a $2 billion acquisition of the long-standing European cryptocurrency exchange Bitstamp. Additionally, Canada's largest cryptocurrency CEX, WonderFi, which recently went public on the Toronto Stock Exchange, also announced its integration with RobinHood Crypto. After obtaining virtual asset licenses in the UK, Canada, Singapore, and other markets, RobinHood has taken a proactive approach in the compliant cryptocurrency trading market.



Furthermore, an increasing number of brokerage firms are exploring the same path. Futu Securities, Tiger Brokers, and others are also dipping their toes into cryptocurrency trading, with some having applied for or obtained the VA license from the Hong Kong SFC. Although their user bases are currently small, traditional brokerages have a natural advantage in user trust, regulatory licenses, and low fee structures. This could pose a threat to native cryptocurrency platforms in the future.



User Data Breach: Is Coinbase Still Secure?


In April 2025, security researchers discovered that some Coinbase user data was leaked on the dark web. While the platform initially responded by attributing it to a "technical misinformation," it still raised concerns among users regarding its security and privacy protection. Just two days before Dow Jones Indexes announced Coinbase's addition to the S&P 500 Index, on May 11, 2025, Coinbase received an email from an unknown threat actor claiming to have obtained customer account information and internal documents, demanding a $20 million ransom to keep the data private. Subsequent investigations confirmed the data breach.


Cybercriminals obtained the data by bribing overseas customer service agents and support staff, mainly in "non-U.S. regions such as India." These agents abused their access to Coinbase's internal customer support system and stole customer data. As early as February this year, blockchain detective ZachXBT revealed on X platform that between December 2024 and January 2025, Coinbase users lost over $65 million to social engineering scams, with the actual amount potentially higher.


Among the victims was a well-known figure, 67-year-old Ed Suman, an established artist in the art world for nearly two decades, having been involved in the creation of artworks such as Jeff Koons' "Balloon Dog" sculpture. Earlier this year, he fell victim to an impersonation scam involving fake Coinbase customer support, resulting in a loss of over $2 million in cryptocurrency. ZachXBT critiqued Coinbase for its inadequate handling of such scams, noting that other major exchanges have not faced similar issues and recommending Coinbase to enhance its security measures.


Amidst a series of ongoing social engineering incidents, although there has not been any impact on user assets at the technical level so far, it has raised concerns among many retail and institutional investors. Especially institutions holding massive assets on Coinbase. Just considering the U.S. BTC ETF institutions, as of mid-May 2025, they collectively hold nearly 840,000 BTC, and 75% of these are custodied by Coinbase. If we price BTC at $100,000, this amount reaches a staggering $63 billion, which is equivalent to the nominal GDP of two Iceland in the year 2024.


Visualization: ChatGPT, Source: Farside


In addition, Coinbase Custody also serves over 300 institutional clients, including hedge funds, family offices, pension funds, and endowments. As of the Q1 2025 financial report, Coinbase's total assets under management (including institutional and retail clients) reached $404 billion. The specific amount of institutional custodied assets was not explicitly disclosed in the latest report, but it should still be over 50% based on the Q4 2024 report.


Visualization: ChatGPT


Once this security barrier is breached, not only could the rate of user attrition far exceed expectations, but more importantly, institutional trust in it would undermine the foundation of its business. Therefore, after a hacking event, Coinbase's stock price plummeted significantly.


CEXs are All in Self-Rescue Mode


Facing a decline in spot trading fee revenue, Coinbase is also accelerating its transformation, attempting to find growth opportunities in derivatives and emerging assets. Coinbase acquired a stake in the options platform Deribit at the end of 2024 and announced the official launch of perpetual contract products in 2025. This acquisition fills in Coinbase's gap in options trading and its relatively small global market share.



Deribit has a strong presence in non-U.S. markets, especially in Asia and Europe. The acquisition has enabled Coinbase to gain a dominant position in bitcoin and ethereum options trading on Deribit, accounting for approximately 80% of the global options trading volume, with daily trading volume remaining above $2 billion.


Meanwhile, 80-90% of Deribit's customer base consists of institutional investors, with their professionalism and liquidity in the Bitcoin and Ethereum options market highly favored by institutions. Coinbase's compliance advantage, coupled with its already robust institutional ecosystem, makes it even more suitable. By using institutions as an entry point, it can face the squeeze from giants like Binance and OKX in the derivatives market.



Facing a similar dilemma is Kraken, which is attempting to replicate Binance Futures' model in non-U.S. markets. Since the derivatives market relies more on professional users, fee rates are relatively higher and stickiness is stronger, making it a significant source of revenue for exchanges. In the first half of 2025, Kraken completed the acquisition of TradeStation Crypto and a futures exchange, aiming to build a complete derivatives trading ecosystem to hedge the risk of declining spot transaction fee income.


With the surge of Memecoin in 2024, Binance, OKX, and various CEX platforms began massively listing small-market-cap, highly volatile tokens to activate active trading users. Due to the wealth effect and trading activity of Memecoins, Coinbase was also forced to join the battle, successively listing popular tokens from the Solana ecosystem such as BOOK OF MEME and Dogwifhat. Although these coins are controversial, they are frequently traded, with fee rates several times higher than mainstream coins, serving as a "blood-boosting" method for spot trading.


However, due to its status as a publicly traded company, this practice is a riskier endeavor for Coinbase. Even in the current crypto-friendly environment, the SEC is still investigating whether tokens like SOL, ADA, and SAND constitute securities.


In addition to the forced transformation strategies carried out by the aforementioned CEXs, they are also starting to lay out RWAs and the most talked-about stablecoin payment fields, such as the PYUSD launched through a collaboration between Coinbase and Paypal, Coinbase's support for the Euro stablecoin EURC by Circle that complies with EU MiCA regulatory requirements, or the USD1 launched through a collaboration between Binance and WIFL. In the increasingly crowded trading field, many CEXs have shifted their focus from just the trading market to the application field.


The golden age of transaction fees has quietly ended, and the second half of the crypto exchange platform game has silently begun.


Arthur Hayes: Why I'm Betting on ETH While the Market Is Obsessed with SOL

"I personally have also allocated 20% to gold, expecting the price of gold to potentially rise to $10,000-20,000 by the end of this market cycle."

May 16 Key Market Information Gap, A Must-Read! | Alpha Morning Report

1. Top News: Coinbase Faces Double Blow with 'SEC Investigation' and 'User Data Breach,' Stock Price Drops by 7.2% 2. Token Unlocking: $ARB, $AVAX, $PRIME, $ASTR, $1INCH

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