Cryptocurrencies updates
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Coinbase’s revenue rose more than 1,000 per cent year-on-year in the second quarter of 2021 as cryptocurrency markets experienced some of their wildest swings, although the exchange warned of declining volatility as it lowered expectations for the year ahead.
In its second quarterly results since becoming the first big US cryptocurrency exchange to go public in April, Coinbase posted net revenues of $2.03bn, up 27 per cent from the previous quarter and 1,042 per cent year-on year. Net income rose to $1.6bn from $32m in the same period last year.
The bumper results, which beat analyst expectations, came as speculators continued to bet feverishly on volatile crypto markets, with digital assets including bitcoin and ethereum hitting all-time highs earlier in the quarter before declining dramatically, only to swell again.
Coinbase said the number of retail monthly transacting users, or MTUs — retail traders who trade at least once a month — topped 8.8m in the three months to the end of June, up 44 per cent from the first quarter.
But it warned that MTUs and trading volume had already dropped in July, as “volatility declined significantly relative to Q2 levels”, while August levels also remained “lower than earlier in the year”.
The exchange lowered the top end of its estimates for the average annual user figures from 9m MTUs to 8m MTUs.
Coinbase shares were up 1.6 per cent in after-hours trading.
