Is Base 'Leveraging' Ethereum's GDP?

By: blockbeats|2025/04/21 07:30:04
Share
copy
Original Article Title: Is Base 'Stealing' Ethereum's GDP?
Original Article Author: Michael Nadeau, Founder of The DeFi Report
Original Article Translation: xiaozou, Jinse Finance

Standard Chartered Bank sparked a heated discussion last month with its report titled "Ethereum's Midlife Crisis." The report estimated that Base caused a $500 billion evaporation of Ethereum's market value and "took over GDP," thereby lowering the year-end price target for ETH from $10,000 to $4,000. This raises a fundamental question: Did Standard Chartered misjudge ETH at the L2 "J-curve" bottom, or will the structural decline continue?

In this article, we will re-examine Standard Chartered Bank's conclusions and offer our own insights.

1. Base's "Partnership" with Ethereum

Let's assume you are Ethereum, and I am Base. We are both building critical infrastructure for web3. One day, I propose to you: Instead of competing with L1, why not collaborate?

As Base, my partnership requirements are:

· Share Ethereum's security and settlement layer (self-built validators are too costly)

· Establish a native cross-chain bridge to Ethereum users and assets

· Share liquidity and developer ecosystem

· Reduce operating costs

· Be compatible with EVM and surrounding infrastructure

As Ethereum, you hope:

· Acquire new users through Coinbase channels

· Increase ETH demand (transactions and on-chain services)

· Receive feedback from enterprise customers

· Create fee revenue for validators

· Improve throughput and user experience

The synergy of 1+1>3 is formed between the two parties. Now, after two years, let's validate the results with on-chain data.

2. Base's Economy and On-Chain Data

User Fees

Is Base 'Leveraging' Ethereum's GDP?

Since its inception, Base has accumulated $24.8 million in base fees and $81.9 million in priority fees. In 2024, Base's revenue ($74 million) accounted for 1.1% of Coinbase's total annual revenue.

Base is currently the fastest-growing and most profitable Ethereum L2, launched two years after its main competitor Arbitrum.

Base GDP

Base's on-chain applications have generated a total of $768 million in fees (cumulative "GDP"), with major contributors including DeFi protocols such as Uniswap and Aerodrome.

"GDP" measures the fees paid by end users to use on-chain applications (excluding gas fees).

Daily New Addresses

Over the past 30 days, Base has averaged 412,000 new addresses per day. Since its launch in August 2023, Base has attracted a cumulative 155 million interacting addresses. Base is actively onboarding new users to the Ethereum ecosystem.

Base Bridged ETH

Currently, Base's layer has 1.917 million ETH (including LST), accounting for 1.6% of the circulating supply, creating new demand for ETH.

Daily Bridged Assets

Through native cross-chain bridges, $0.5-2 billion in assets flow between L1/L2 daily (ETH accounts for 80%). In the past 30 days, $5.03 billion in assets flowed back to Ethereum from Base. Over the last 90 days, $30 billion in assets flowed back to Ethereum from Base, confirming Ethereum's role as a cross-chain hub.

Stablecoin Supply

Base's on-chain stablecoin supply stands at $4.2 billion ($USDC accounts for 91%), with a total locked value of $9.9 billion, of which $6 billion is native assets and $3.3 billion are from Ethereum cross-chain. This has created more use cases for Ethereum.

Base is currently valued at 9.9 billion US dollars. Of this value, 6 billion US dollars are from "native" assets, meaning these assets were issued on Base. 3.3 billion US dollars are from "canonical" assets, indicating these assets were bridged from Ethereum. 0.6 billion US dollars are considered "external" assets, implying these assets were bridged from other chains.

Likewise, Base has created net new demand for ETH through native tokenized assets.

In summary, in less than two years, Base has leveraged Ethereum to:

• Become the largest and fastest-growing L2, earning 106 million US dollars in user fees.

• Introduce 157 million new addresses to Ethereum (including some L1 user migrations).

• Build an app ecosystem generating 768 million US dollars in fees.

• Bridge 1.91 million ETH cross-chain, creating additional on-chain service demand.

• Increase stablecoin value by 4 billion US dollars (Coinbase holds approximately 50% of USDC).

• Issue 6 billion US dollars of native assets while introducing 3.3 billion US dollars of Ethereum assets.

We believe Ethereum has achieved a collaborative value of 1+1=3 in this case. But how has Ethereum itself benefited?

3. Base's Contribution to Ethereum's "Security Capture"

Base has cumulatively paid 4.5 million US dollars in L1 blob and settlement fees (which were burned), with an on-chain profit margin of 91% in the last six months (excluding off-chain costs). It is worth noting that Base has paid a total of 24 million US dollars in L1 fees, with 80% occurring before the EIP4844 implementation (cheaper blob), and our analysis does not include the earlier call data phase.

Currently, Base averages 93 TPS, effectively scaling Ethereum's capacity.

Since Base went live in August 2023, Ethereum's weekly GDP has grown by 75%, but is still 80% below the early 2022 peak. The current L1 app daily GDP is 57 million US dollars, while Base's weekly average app GDP reaches 6.8 million US dollars.

Back to the core question: Does Base "steal" Ethereum's GDP?

The answer is yes!

This is precisely the significance of the L2 roadmap. Top applications (such as Uniswap, Aave) are scaling on Base, while new projects (such as Aerodrome) are choosing Base directly over L1. User migration to L2 is causing a decrease in L1 fees and ETH burn, leading Ethereum to shift towards a more enterprise/B2B-oriented business model.

Only when L2 can't bridge the gap through blob fees in the future does this constitute an "issue" for Ethereum.

4. Base Growth Projection and ETH Value Capture

Based on current data, we believe Ethereum is investing in a long-term future through the L2 roadmap, sacrificing short-term GDP, fees, and ETH burn, with the hope that Base can scale, establish a replicable template (traditional finance?), and drive positive ecosystem development.

Current Situation Analysis:

• L2 currently processes approximately 165 TPS in total, needing to compete for blob space.

• 3-4 L2s consistently fill the current target of 3 blobs per block (maximum of 6), whenever this happens, L2s compete, driving fees up.

• The target blobs/block is currently 3 (maximum of 6), but next month, an upgrade through Pectra will increase it to 6 (maximum of 9 blobs/block). Hence, in the initial scenario analysis, we assume a target of 6 blobs, with a maximum of 9 blobs.

• We are using the Blob Simulator created by Tim Robinson.

As seen in the above diagram, the current state has minimal impact on the Ethereum economy, with L2 averaging a fee of $0.0002.

A 5x increase in Base TPS would result in slightly higher L2 fees, while bringing more value to Ethereum L1 (annualized $24.5 million).

Increasing Base TPS by 10x would result in a 200x surge in L1 annual revenue to $4.9 billion (welcomed by validators). However, we have also created another issue: L2 average fee will rise to $0.35 (unacceptable).

The PeerDAS and Fusaka upgrades (expected in Q3/Q4 this year) will increase the blob reward per block to 12 (ultimate goal of 48, maximum cap of 72). Assuming a 10x increase in Base TPS and completion of the initial Fusaka upgrade:

• L2 average fee can be kept at $0.0018

• L1 annual revenue $48.9 million

If Arbitrum and Optimism also achieve a simultaneous 10x expansion:

• L1 annual revenue could reach $17.7 billion (nearly double the 2021 peak)

• But once again, we have created a bottleneck, with average L2 cost per transaction rising to $0.64. This is not feasible.

Let's optimistically estimate that the target blob will increase to 24 in a year:

• L1 annual revenue will decrease to $9.6 billion

• L2 average fee remains at $0.17

To keep the L2 average fee below $0.02, we need 33 target blobs per block, at which point L1 annual revenue is only $1.4 billion—just matching the actual revenue from the past 365 days.

Summary:

We have tried to simplify the analysis model, aiming to clarify two core mechanisms: 1) The impact of L2 transactions per second (TPS) increase on blob pricing; 2) The transmission effect of an increased L1 target blob/block quantity on the Ethereum economic model and L2 user fees. In reality, we fully understand the dynamics and unpredictability of the market environment—there may be hundreds of L2s vying for blob space in the near future.

We are confident that L1 will still host a significant amount of on-chain activity, continue to generate fee revenue, and drive ETH burning. However, specific use cases and transaction scales are currently unclear.

Based on simulation results (assuming the three major L2s each reach a 10x TPS increase from the current Base), when the total L2 TPS reaches 2,790, even with the completion of the Pectra technology upgrade, the Ethereum network will still face overload pressure (at this point, L2 single transaction cost reaches $0.35).

In contrast, Solana has consistently processed 1,078 TPS over the past 90 days, with an average fee of only $0.016 (including base fee + priority fee), and the actual user fee is even lower—due to its network's dynamically priced transaction mechanism by transaction type, and its performance upgrade plan Firedancer has not yet been officially launched.

5. Conclusion

The saying "There is no perfect solution, only trade-offs" is particularly relevant here. Base quickly gained momentum through the L2 model, currently achieving ideal returns, but has also tied itself to the uncontrollable Ethereum scaling path, potentially facing "vendor lock-in" and technical debt risks.

Ethereum seems to have sacrificed L1 fees to attract enterprise clients, create ETH demand, and improve user experience. However, the sustainability of long-term economic relationships is questionable—scenario analysis shows that scalability bottlenecks may persist. If L2 cannot scale quickly, it may be necessary to issue more ETH to maintain validator rewards (after EIP4844, the ETH supply has changed from deflationary to potentially exceeding BTC).

We believe that Base is satisfied with the current situation, but if Ethereum's blob scaling is not effective, it may seek alternative solutions such as Celestia. Ethereum urgently needs to shift its culture from "values and identity" to an enterprise-oriented "security-as-a-service" business model.

Returning to the original question: Has Standard Chartered Bank misjudged the "L2 J-curve" bottom? We believe that the fundamental structural decline of Ethereum will continue in the short term. Although the onboarding of traditional finance may improve market sentiment, there is a lack of fundamental improvement catalysts. The following chart shows that there is still a long way to go.

Original Article Link

You may also like

a16z Leads $18M Seed Round for Catena Labs, Crypto Industry Bets on Stablecoin AI Payment

Traditional finance is still stuck in a "human-to-human" model, while Catena aims to achieve "AI-to-AI" interaction.

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

$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.



On the day of the announcement, Coinbase's stock price surged by 23%, surpassing the $250 mark. However, just 3 days later, Coinbase was hit by two consecutive events: a hack where employees were bribed to steal customer data and a demand for a $20 million ransom, and an investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) into the authenticity of its claim of having over 100 million "verified users" in its securities filings and marketing materials. These two events acted as mini-bombs, and at the time of writing, Coinbase's stock had already dropped by over 7.3%.


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."

CryptoPunks Changes Hands Twice, Did the Originator of NFTs Finally Find Its "Forever Home" This Time?

The original NFT pioneer CryptoPunks has once again officially changed ownership after being sold to the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) developer Yuga Labs.

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

Popular coins

Latest Crypto News

Read more