Coinbase Misses Estimates on Q1 Revenue, $400M Loss

Coinbase shares slid Thursday after the US crypto exchange reported a steep first-quarter loss while revenue missed Wall Street expectations.

Coinbase reported a net loss of $394.1 million in Q1, its second consecutive quarterly loss after reporting a $667 million loss in Q4 2025. It swung from a $65.6 million profit a year earlier. 

“Macro conditions were genuinely tough,” Coinbase chief financial officer Alesia Haas told investors on an earnings call. “Total crypto market cap and total crypto trading volume were both down more than 20% quarter-over-quarter.”

Coinbase’s earnings come as other crypto companies have also struggled to turn a profit in the first months of 2026 as a crypto market slump pushed some traders to other investments.

Meanwhile, Coinbase’s Q1 revenue was $1.41 billion, missing analyst estimates of $1.5 billion. Transaction revenue slumped 40%, while subscription and services revenue — representing its business outside trading — fell 13.5% from a year earlier. 

Its earnings per share were a $1.49 loss, compared to analysts’ expectations of 36 cents per share, which saw Coinbase dropping by 4.7% after hours on Thursday to under $184.

Coinbase shares fell in regular and after-hours trading on Thursday amid the company’s first-quarter earnings. Source: Google Finance

Coinbase’s stock has fallen more than 14.5% this year, prompting the exchange to pursue new business lines such as prediction markets and cost-cutting measures, including laying off 14% of its workforce, or about 700 employees, on Monday.

Despite the company’s earnings, CEO Brian Armstrong struck an optimistic tone on the earnings call, telling investors that “the world economy is moving on-chain, and Coinbase was built to capitalize on this transition.”

He added that over the past year, Coinbase has aimed to transition from “a primarily spot-focused crypto platform into a place where you can now trade any asset class.”

“We’re in kind of this interim period where spot crypto assets were down a bit, other asset classes were up. As we diversify, these things will get balanced out, where we’ll just be in a more upward channel over time,” Armstrong added.

Related: Block Inc rises 8% as Q1 gives ‘earnings surprise’ despite Bitcoin dip

Coinbase rival Robinhood Markets also missed estimates for the first quarter last month as its crypto revenue and trading volumes nearly halved from a year earlier.

Bernstein said in March that the decline in crypto stocks presented a more attractive entry point for investors seeking exposure to the current hot theme of tokenization and maintained a bullish rating on Coinbase and Robinhood.

It argued that the companies offered investors exposure to a broader shift toward tokenized finance, including stablecoins and prediction markets, which it expected to gain traction in the coming years.

Magazine: Guide to the top and emerging global crypto hubs — Mid-2026

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