CoinBase
Coinbase Global, Inc., commonly known as Coinbase, is a United States-based financial-technology company that provides cryptocurrency trading, custody, payments and blockchain-infrastructure products. It serves individual customers, institutions and developers through products that include the Coinbase app, Advanced trading, Coinbase Prime, Coinbase Exchange, the Base network and developer services.[1]
Many Coinbase products are centralized services: the company holds customer assets or executes transactions through a Coinbase legal entity. Its self-custody Base App is different because the user controls the wallet's cryptographic keys. Product availability, supported assets and legal protections vary by jurisdiction.
History
Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam founded Coinbase in 2012, and the company participated in the Y Combinator startup program that year. Its initial service allowed customers to buy and sell Bitcoin using bank transfers. Coinbase raised a US$5 million Series A round led by Union Square Ventures in 2013 and a US$25 million round led by Andreessen Horowitz later that year.[2]
The company launched Coinbase Exchange for professional traders in 2015. The venue was renamed the Global Digital Asset Exchange (GDAX) in 2016 and Coinbase Pro in 2018; Coinbase later moved the professional-trading interface into Advanced trading. These names describe successive stages of the product rather than separate current exchanges.
In January 2017, the New York State Department of Financial Services granted Coinbase licenses for money transmission and virtual-currency business activity. The regulator imposed a consent order in 2023 concerning historical deficiencies in Coinbase's compliance program; Coinbase agreed to a monetary penalty and further investment in compliance.[3]
Coinbase Global became a publicly traded company through a direct listing on Nasdaq in April 2021. The group subsequently expanded into derivatives and acquired the cryptocurrency-options exchange Deribit in 2025. Coinbase Global reincorporated from Delaware to Texas in December 2025 and describes itself as remote-first, without a conventional headquarters.[1]
Exchange and trading
Coinbase's consumer service offers simple purchases and sales as well as an Advanced interface with order books and additional order types. Customers can fund eligible accounts using payment methods available in their country, trade supported assets, and send supported cryptocurrency to external blockchain addresses. Identity checks, limits, settlement times and withdrawal options depend on the customer's location and account.
Fees are not a single fixed percentage. They can depend on the product, order type, trading volume, payment method, asset and market conditions. Simple trades may include both a disclosed transaction fee and a spread, while Advanced trading generally uses volume-based maker-and-taker fees. The applicable preview or fee schedule should therefore be checked before a transaction; old fee tables become inaccurate as pricing changes.[1]
Coinbase operates several market venues through different entities. Its 2025 annual report identifies Coinbase Exchange for spot markets, Coinbase International Exchange for eligible non-U.S. spot and derivatives activity, Coinbase Derivatives Exchange for U.S. futures, and Deribit for options and derivatives. Access to a venue does not imply that every asset or product is available to every customer.
Products and services
Consumer services
The Coinbase app provides custodial accounts for buying, selling, transferring and holding supported crypto assets. Advanced trading is intended for users who need order-book execution and more detailed market controls. Coinbase One is a paid subscription offered in several tiers; benefits can include reduced trading fees subject to limits, customer-service features and other account benefits. Its terms are plan- and jurisdiction-specific.
The Base App, formerly Coinbase Wallet, is a self-custodial application for holding assets and interacting with decentralized applications. Its keys are controlled by the user rather than held in a Coinbase exchange account. Coinbase generally cannot restore a self-custody wallet if the user loses the required recovery access, although the app can support an optional recovery signer.[1]
Institutional services
Coinbase Prime combines institutional trading, custody, financing and related services. Orders can use Coinbase venues or be routed to third-party trading venues. Institutional custody includes cold-storage products, while financing and staking products are available to eligible clients under separate agreements.[4]
Coinbase Custody Trust Company is a New York-chartered limited-purpose trust company. Coinbase also provides custody to several issuers of exchange-traded products. The legal entity and custody arrangement matter because customer agreements, asset segregation and regulatory obligations are not identical across all Coinbase products.
Base and developer infrastructure
Base is an Ethereum layer-2 blockchain launched by Coinbase. Coinbase operates its sequencer and earns sequencer fees, while applications and assets on Base can be built by independent developers. Coinbase Developer Platform provides APIs and infrastructure for wallets, payments, staking and blockchain access. Coinbase Exchange also exposes programmatic trading and market-data APIs.[5]
Coinbase and Circle launched the dollar-linked USDC stablecoin in 2018. Circle is the issuer; Coinbase supports distribution and receives part of the economics associated with USDC reserves under its commercial agreement with Circle.[1]
Custody, security and user risk
For custodial products, Coinbase uses both hot and cold wallets. Some trading-service assets are pooled at blockchain addresses and attributed to customers through Coinbase's internal ledger, whereas certain dedicated custody services use segregated addresses. Coinbase states that customer and corporate assets are recorded separately and that most crypto assets it holds are kept in cold storage.[1]
These controls do not make a Coinbase account or cryptocurrency investment risk-free. Relevant risks include phishing and account takeover, loss of access, service interruptions, blockchain congestion, erroneous transfers, asset-price volatility, changes in law, and insolvency or operational failure of Coinbase or a third-party venue. Cryptocurrency transfers usually cannot be reversed merely because an address was entered incorrectly.
Insurance is also limited. Coinbase's annual report says insurance is intended to cover certain hot-wallet losses, subject to exclusions and policy limits, and that total customer assets substantially exceed corporate assets and available insurance. It should not be described as a guarantee that every customer loss will be reimbursed.[1] Customers should distinguish custodial Coinbase accounts from the self-custody Base App and review the agreement for the specific entity providing their service.
Better mortgage partnership
In 2026, Coinbase supplied custody infrastructure for a token-backed mortgage program originated by Better Home & Finance. The generally available program allows eligible Coinbase One members to pledge bitcoin in support of a separate down-payment loan alongside a conforming mortgage. Better, not Coinbase, originates both loans and holds the pledged bitcoin in its custodial account on Coinbase Prime.[6][7]
The arrangement is not a direct purchase of a home with bitcoin. The conforming mortgage is secured by the home; the separate loan supplies the down payment and is secured by pledged bitcoin and a second lien on the property. Better states that declines in the bitcoin price do not create a collateral top-up requirement, but missed payments can lead to liquidation. Eligibility and terms may change.
Regulation
Coinbase operates through multiple legal entities and holds licenses related to money transmission, virtual-currency activity, custody and derivatives in relevant jurisdictions. Regulation is product-specific. For example, Coinbase states that several U.S. spot-market and application products are not registered as a national securities exchange or broker-dealer, while its derivatives and custody businesses use separately regulated entities.[1] A license held by one group company should not be interpreted as covering every Coinbase service or every listed asset.
See also
External links
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Coinbase Global 2025 Form 10-K, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, 12 February 2026.
- ↑ Coinbase Raises $25M Led By Andreessen Horowitz, TechCrunch, 12 December 2013.
- ↑ Consent Order under New York Banking Law and Financial Services Law, New York State Department of Financial Services, 4 January 2023.
- ↑ Coinbase Prime, Coinbase, accessed 27 August 2026.
- ↑ Welcome to Exchange APIs, Coinbase Developer Documentation, accessed 27 August 2026.
- ↑ Crypto-backed mortgages, Better Mortgage, accessed 27 August 2026.
- ↑ Coinbase and Better make token-backed mortgages generally available, The Block, 26 August 2026.