【Web3 Thoughts】Do Exchanges Also Lose Money? The 'Cold Reflection' Behind Coinbase's Q4 Financial Report 🧊
Everyone thinks that exchanges are just 'guaranteed income' landlords, right? When the market is good, they collect transaction fees, and when the market is bad, they collect exit fees.
But the freshly released Coinbase Q4 financial report surprised everyone: a net loss of $667 million!
That's right, even the compliance king Coinbase actually 'lost' money. Could it be that even exchanges can't hold on anymore? Don't panic just yet; peel back the data to see the essence, and you'll find that this is actually a carefully crafted 'accounting magic'.
🔍 Why the loss?
1. The troubles of 'holding coins' 📉
Coinbase is like a big player hoarding coins. Because the market sentiment in Q4 was somewhat sluggish, and BTC prices retracted, they experienced an unrealized loss of $710 million on their held crypto assets.
To translate: it's not that the business isn't profitable, but that the 'holding positions' are on a roller coaster. This feeling, we understand.
2. Everyone has gone to 'dive deep into learning' 💤
The Q4 market was indeed quite quiet, and many partners chose to temporarily turn off the software, return to life, or dive deep into learning, leading to a significant reduction in trading frequency.
As a result: the transaction fee income contributed by retail investors naturally shrank. After all, when everyone is 'holding coins calmly', the landlord can't collect booth fees either.
3. Taking advantage of the cold to 'renovate' 🏗️
Coinbase spent quite a bit on acquiring and integrating new businesses (like Deribit) this quarter.
The logic is: take advantage of the market's calm period to upgrade equipment, so that when the next windfall comes, they can catch even bigger fortunes.
💡 What can we retail investors learn?
Although the overall environment is quiet, the financial report hides an 'institutional signal':
Even though everyone is trading less, institutional trading volume has actually increased by 37%. This indicates that big funds have not left the market but are quietly adjusting their positions during this quiet period.
To summarize:
Coinbase's losses are more of a reflection of market cycles. For us, the most important thing is to preserve capital in a quiet market and 'upgrade equipment' like Coinbase during the downturn.
🚩 Interactive Zone
Do you think the current quietness is the 'darkness before dawn'? Let's chat in the comments about your current position status: are you diving deep into learning, or waiting for signals?
#coinbase #Q4 $USDC $BTC