Coinbase is a U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange that allows individuals and institutions to buy, sell, store, and trade digital assets such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. It is the largest crypto exchange by trading volume in the U.S. and one of the largest in the world. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, California, though it operates as a remote-first company without a single physical headquarters.
Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam founded Coinbase in 2012. Armstrong, a former Airbnb $ABNB engineer, built the platform on the premise that cryptocurrency should be as easy to use as a conventional bank account. The company grew alongside the broader cryptocurrency market, expanding from a simple Bitcoin wallet into a full-service exchange offering hundreds of digital assets.
Coinbase went public in April 2021 through a direct listing on the Nasdaq $NDAQ stock exchange under the ticker symbol COIN — making it the first major cryptocurrency exchange to list on a U.S. national stock exchange. That milestone was widely seen as a signal of the crypto industry's arrival in mainstream finance. The company's revenue is closely tied to trading activity on its platform, which in turn depends heavily on cryptocurrency prices and market volatility.
Beyond its core exchange business, Coinbase operates several related services. Coinbase Prime serves institutional clients such as hedge funds and asset managers. Coinbase Wallet is a self-custody product that lets users hold crypto without relying on the exchange. The company also operates Base, a blockchain network it developed to support decentralized applications.
Coinbase earns revenue primarily through transaction fees charged when users trade on its platform, as well as subscription and services revenue from products such as staking — a process by which users earn rewards for helping validate transactions on certain blockchain networks — and custodial services. Because fee income fluctuates with , the company's financial results have historically been volatile.