COIN, Coinbase Global, Inc.
We are working to update the century-old financial system by providing a trusted platform that makes it easy for our customers to engage with crypto assets.
Read top to bottom, the owner's questions in the order an owner asks them: what the business is, whether the record holds, whether it survives and is any good, and what you would be paying. New to the questions? Start with the Method.
The business in brief
read the 10-K →What this business is and what moves its needle, read from the numbers in its filings. The quantitative detail is in the sections below; the verdict is left to you.
- What it is
- A balance-sheet business, read on book value, net interest margin and credit losses rather than an earnings multiple.
- What moves the needle
- Net interest margin, loan losses, and book value. A lender is read on the quality of its balance sheet, not on an earnings multiple.
- Is it a good business?
- Return on equity has sat below the cost of equity (median 9%, above 12% in only 3 of 7 years). The cycle and the loan book decide this one; weigh the recession years in the record, not the average, and read the 10-K.
Every line here is arithmetic from the company's own filings, not a model's opinion, and each figure appears in full in the sections below.
Where the money comes from
read the 10-K →16% of revenue comes from outside the United States.
- United States84%$6.0B
- International16%$1.2B
From the segment footnote of the company's own 10-K. Shares are of total revenue; the profit bar shows each segment's share of segment operating profit, before unallocated corporate costs.
The record, 2019–2025
realized figures from each filing, no estimates| 2019’19 | 2020’20 | 2021’21 | 2022’22 | 2023’23 | 2024’24 | 2025’25 | TTMTTMMar 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RevenueRevenue | $534M | $1.3B | $7.8B | $3.2B | $3.1B | $6.6B | $7.2B | $6.6B |
| Net incomeNet inc. | ($30M) | $322M | $3.6B | ($2.6B) | $95M | $2.6B | $1.3B | $801M |
| EPS (diluted)EPS | $-0.14 | $1.47 | $16.48 | $-11.81 | $0.37 | $9.43 | $4.39 | $3.02 |
| Return on equityROE | -6% | 33% | 57% | -48% | 2% | 25% | 9% | 6% |
| Return on tangible equityROTCE | -7% | 63% | 65% | -62% | 2% | 28% | 14% | 10% |
| Book value / shareBVPS | $2.26 | $4.38 | $29.01 | $24.53 | $24.69 | $37.59 | $51.51 | $50.91 |
| Tangible book / shareTBVPS | $2.01 | $2.32 | $25.36 | $19.09 | $19.87 | $33.25 | $32.12 | $29.86 |
Owner’s Scorecard
Is it a good business?
- Below the cost of equityNet income $1.3B ÷ equity $14.8B
The bank's north star, what it earns on shareholders' capital. Cost of equity is roughly 10%, so a return durably above that builds value and below it destroys it. One year is noisy; the durability across a full credit cycle is what counts.
- StrongNet income ÷ (equity − goodwill $4.2B − intangibles $1.4B)
The cleaner return, stripping out the goodwill paid for past acquisitions. This is the number a buyer of the whole bank actually earns on the hard capital.
- Not enough data
Noninterest expense or revenue missing.
Is it sound?
- Capital (equity / assets) 49.9%Well capitalizedEquity $14.8B ÷ assets $29.7B
A plain-English leverage read: how much of the balance sheet is the owners' own money. This is a rough proxy; the regulatory figure is the CET1 ratio, which is risk-weighted and reported in the filing. The point is the same, how much loss the bank can absorb before depositors are at risk.
- Funding —Not enough data
Deposits or total assets missing.
- Credit cost —Not enough data
Provision or net interest income missing.
Solvent is not the same as cheap; growing is not the same as good. These are vital signs, not a verdict, the judgment is yours, and the filing is one click away.
Management & pay
read the proxy →Two questions Buffett actually asks about pay: is stock compensation, a real expense, whatever the income statement pretends, quietly large, and is the top wildly out of line with the floor. He's no populist about it; he just wants pay that's rational and earned, and comp committees that aren't lapdogs.
- CEO pay ratio45:1
What the chief earns for every dollar the median employee makes, per the 2026 proxy. A high ratio isn't proof of anything, some businesses are genuinely top-heavy in scarce skill, but a runaway figure is where Buffett starts asking whether the board is doing its job or just keeping the chair company.
- Stock-based compensation$839M
The slice of the business handed to employees in shares this year, 12% of revenue, equal to 58% of operating profit. Buffett's oldest accounting fight: this is compensation, compensation is an expense, real whether or not the headline earnings admit it. And note the trap, the cash-flow statement adds SBC back, so the operating cash, and the owner earnings drawn from it, are flattered by exactly this amount; counted as the cost it is, what an owner keeps is lower.
What the price implies
price / tangible bookA bank is worth a multiple of its tangible book value, and the multiple it deserves is set by the return it earns on that book. Type today’s price; we show what you would be paying against what Coinbase Global, Inc.’s record justifies. Nothing is stored; the number stays in your browser.
Enter a price above to run it.
The justified multiple is (return on tangible equity − growth) ÷ (cost of equity − growth). A bank earning exactly its cost of equity is worth about one times tangible book; every point of durable excess return above that is worth paying up for. Raise the cost of equity and the justified multiple falls: that is interest-rate gravity on a bank.
Tangible book $7.9B on 265M shares, a 14% normalized return on it. This is a lens, not a target. It assumes the bank keeps earning that return; a credit cycle, a rate shock or a bad acquisition changes it, which is what the record and the 10-K are for.
What the filing emphasizes, FY2025
read the 10-K →Each year a 10-K must name what could go wrong, in the company's own words. Here are the ones Graham and Buffett would stop on, each set against the figure from the same filings that bears on it, anchored to a period you can find in the record above. We point; the judgment is yours.
- Pricing power & competitionRisk Factors
Whether the company sets its price or takes it. Durable pricing power is the surest mark of a moat; price competition is the surest mark there isn't one.
“Further, more traditional financial and non-financial services businesses may choose to offer crypto-based services in the future as the industry gains adoption and barriers to entry lower.”
From the recordOperating margin10.8% now (TTM), off a 39.2% peak (FY2021) - Concentrated dependenceRisk Factors
What the whole business leans on, a product, a platform, a partner. Concentration cuts both ways, and the filing is where management has to admit it.
“However, our ability to grow our customer base and net revenue will depend heavily on our ability to innovate and create successful new products and services, both independently and in conjunction with third-party developers.”
From the recordOwner-earnings margin at stake (TTM)27% - Debt terms & refinancingRisk Factors
The fine print behind the debt. Covenants and near-term maturities decide who is really in control when a year goes badly.
“Any refinancing or restructuring could be at higher interest rates and may require us to comply with more onerous covenants, which could further restrict our business operations.”
From the recordBalance sheet (TTM)+$4.4B net cash · interest covered 16.8× - Litigation & contingenciesRisk Factors
Claims an owner inherits. Most disclosure is boilerplate; this fires only on an actual matter, a named suit, a settlement, a contingency, a number.
“We are, and may continue to be, subject to litigation, including individual and class action lawsuits, as well as investigations and enforcement actions by regulators and governmental authorities.”
A judgment, not a number, weigh it against the filing yourself. - DilutionRisk Factors
Whether your slice quietly shrinks. New shares fund the company at the existing owner's expense.
“Any such issuance could result in substantial dilution to our existing shareholders and cause the market price of our Class A common stock to decline.”
A judgment, not a number, weigh it against the filing yourself. - Cyclicality & demandRisk Factors
How the business behaves when the economy turns. A cyclical earns its keep across the whole cycle, not at the peak.
“The United States and other key international economies have experienced cyclical downturns from time to time in which economic activity declined resulting in lower consumption rates, restricted credit, reduced profitability, weaknesses in financial markets, bankruptcies, and overall uncertainty wit…”
From the recordWorst year on record−84.8% operating margin (FY2022) - Regulation & policyBusiness
Rules that can rewrite the economics, tariffs, antitrust, data, export controls.
“In addition to the federal and state laws and regulations governing prepaid cards, we, as well as the banks that issue our Coinbase Card and Coinbase One Credit Card, are subject to and required to comply with card association and payment network rules and guidelines which apply to prepaid cards.”
A judgment, not a number, weigh it against the filing yourself.
What changed, FY2025 vs FY2024
read the 10-K →Most of a 10-K is boilerplate carried over verbatim; the signal is in what's new. These lines appear this year and weren't there last, figure updates filtered out, so only the language shift remains.
- “General and administrative expenses increased for the year ended December 31, 2025 as compared to 2024, primarily due to: an increase in employee-related expenses primarily due to higher average headcount; an increase in professional services due to increased use of legal advisory services, includin…”
- “For the year ended December 31, 2025 as compared to 2024, Trading Volume increased primarily reflecting an increase of 9% in global crypto market spot trading volume (the USD equivalent value of all matched trades transacted between buyers and sellers across all exchanges), offset in part by a decre…”
- “Net cash provided by operating activities decreased by $677.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2025 as compared to 2024 primarily due to: $311.2 million in cash used in 2025 related to the Data Theft Incident, for which impacted customers were voluntarily reimbursed; and an overall increase i…”
- “Losses (gains) on crypto assets held for investment, net Year Ended December 31, Change (in thousands, except %) 2025 2024 $ % Losses (gains) on crypto assets held for investment, net $ 528,857 $ (687,055) $ 1,215,912 (177) Changes in losses (gains) on crypto assets held for investment, net resulted…”
- “In addition, while we have policies and procedures to help mitigate our risks related to routing orders through third-party trading venues, if any of these third-party trading venues experience any technical, legal, regulatory, or other adverse events, such as shutdowns, delays, system failures, sus…”
Classic text analysis over the filing itself, no model wrote a word of this, and every quote is the company's own.
Peers, Financial services
The same industry, side by side on the bank lens, compare, don't rank by a single number.● marks best in the group.
| Company | Revenue | ROE | ROTCE | Efficiency | Net int. margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AXPAmerican Express Co | $41.3B | 32% | 38% | 74% | 5.8% |
| COINCoinbase Global, Inc. | $7.2B | 9% | 14% | — | — |
| SYFSynchrony Financial | — | 21% | 25% | 27% | 15.5% |