Coinbase is making another attempt to launch tokenized securities in the US stock market, a plan it first pitched in 2020 but never got off the ground. With president Donald Trump’s administration changing regulatory attitudes, a new SEC crypto task force in place, Coinbase is mapping out its execution strategy. Alesia Haas, the company’s Chief Financial Officer, confirmed the decision at the Morgan Stanley TMT Conference on Wednesday, saying Coinbase had originally wanted to go public with a security token. “We tried to go public with a security token. We tried to go public on our own products. And we could not, and we ran into brick walls,” said Alesia. “The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) shut down those plans.” The SEC’s legal battle with Coinbase ended in a major court victory for the company last month. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong addressed this during the company’s earnings call on Wednesday, saying, “We fully won that case. It was dismissed with prejudice. We did not pay a single dollar in settlement. We did not change a single aspect of our business.” So this victory cleared the way for Coinbase to pursue security tokens again. The company believes the current Congress is the most pro-crypto ever, with Trump pushing to make the US the “crypto capital of the world.” Brian said, “We have the House, the Senate, and the Executive all fully excited and aligned on this.” A key part of Coinbase’s regulatory focus is stablecoin legislation. Brian explained, “Creating stablecoin regulation will be a huge unlock for a digitized dollar.” Coinbase is also pushing for clear market structure laws to define which crypto assets count as commodities, securities, or payment stablecoins. In the earnings call, Brian described this as “key to understanding who is regulating you.” Payments are another major growth area. Brian told Coinbase shareholders that: “The majority of all payments are going to be happening on stablecoins eventually.” He pointed to the speed, low fees, and global reach of stablecoin transactions, adding, “Sending USDC on Base takes less than one second and costs less than one cent.” Coinbase’s revenue strategy and market expansion Brian laid out Coinbase’s 2025 priorities: driving revenue, expanding crypto utility, and scaling its infrastructure. The company’s trading, staking, and stablecoin businesses each pulled in over $700 million in 2024, and it is adding new features to grow those numbers in 2025. Coinbase is also expanding derivative trading and plans to support millions of tokens by integrating decentralized exchanges (DEXs). Brian said, “We’re adding best-in-class derivative trading support for customers that are power users or sensitive on fees.” Another important business area is Coinbase Developer Platform (CDP), which Brian compared to Amazon Web Services (AWS). “This is what Amazon did with AWS, allowing our infrastructure to be utilized by third-party companies,” Brian said. He believes this could become a major revenue stream as more businesses integrate crypto APIs for custody, trading, staking, and payments. The company’s subscription service, Coinbase One, now has 600,000 paying subscribers. Brian described it as “Amazon Prime for crypto”, saying, “It creates a sticky customer. Once they become a Coinbase One member, they do more trading volume with us.” The service offers zero-fee trading, improved rewards, and premium support, which Coinbase says will help lock in users. Alesia jumped in to explain that international expansion as another revenue driver. Just last December, Coinbase secured a Virtual Asset Service Provider license in Argentina and the UK and is working on a MiCA license in Europe. Brian pointed out that Coinbase now has a repeatable playbook for entering new markets. “Every market we entered two years ago—Brazil, Canada, Australia, Singapore—has already become profitable.” Coinbase’s next steps and future priorities With a war chest of $9 billion, Coinbase is looking at acquisitions too. Alesia described the company as “the most acquisitive in crypto” and said it evaluates deals based on customer growth, new licenses, and talent acquisition. “We have always had an appetite for M&A. And it’s in support of our product road map and is in support of: Can we add customers? Can we add assets? Can we add products? Can we add licenses? Can we add talent? And so the tuck-ins that you mentioned, we’re really pleased to find opportunities to add talent that can accelerate our product roadmap,” Alesia said. Coinbase is also strengthening its policy efforts. The company’s StandWithCrypto.org now has 2 million voters advocating for pro-crypto candidates, with a goal of 4 million by midterm elections in America next year. Brian said, “We’re going to continue to donate to Fairshake, the Super PAC that had excellent results in the last election.” Looking ahead, Brian said the biggest challenge is focus. “We have too many opportunities in front of us to pursue simultaneously.” Alesia agreed, saying, “We need to make sure we are marching towards our biggest priorities and not getting distracted.” Brian then told shareholders, “And so we try not to get caught up in the hype, but we also try not to get caught up in any despair when it happens in crypto. And right now, I’d say we’re more in like danger of being in hype. It’s a very positive moment. And so we’re just being very deliberate about how we grow this business, how we allocate capital to the next year.” Cryptopolitan Academy: Want to grow your money in 2025? Learn how to do it with DeFi in our upcoming webclass. Save Your Spot
