Coinbase Posts $667 Million Loss as Crypto Trading Slumps

Hi! In today’s edition:

• 📉 Coinbase posts a $667 million quarterly loss as trading cools

• 🏛️ Aave’s revenue overhaul sparks a DAO governance showdown

• ⚛️ Bitcoin developers debate the quantum computing threat

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Coinbase Swings to $667 Million Loss as Trading Slows

Coinbase’s latest earnings show how quickly a cooling crypto market can hit even the largest U.S. exchange.

The company reported a $667 million net loss in the fourth quarter, reversing a $1.3 billion profit from a year earlier. Revenue fell 20% to $1.8 billion, missing expectations, as lower crypto prices weighed on trading activity. Transaction revenue dropped to $983 million, down from $1.56 billion a year ago and just over $1.04 billion in the prior quarter.

The slowdown has carried into 2026. Through Feb. 10, Coinbase has generated about $420 million in transaction revenue for the first quarter. Shares are down roughly 40% year to date.

Still, there are stabilizers. Subscription and services revenue came in at $727 million, supported in part by revenue sharing tied to USDC. Analysts say that recurring stream is higher margin and less volatile than spot trading.

“Crypto is cyclical,” Coinbase said in its shareholder letter, adding that it is “never as good, or as bad as it seems.” Whether this proves to be a mid-cycle pullback or a deeper winter may determine how well Coinbase’s diversification strategy holds up.

Aave Revenue Overhaul Sparks Governance Clash

Aave Labs has thrown down a bold proposal called “Aave Will Win,” asking the DAO to approve a plan that would send 100% of revenue from Aave-branded products back to the community treasury. The framework is tied to the long awaited V4 upgrade and would formalize a structure where Labs builds products, but all related revenue flows to token holders.

Founder Stani Kulechov described it as a shift to a “token-centric model,” positioning Aave to compete as institutions move onchain. The proposal also suggests creating a foundation to hold trademarks and intellectual property, aiming to resolve months of tension over who controls the brand.

But not everyone is convinced. Marc Zeller of the Aave Chan Initiative pushed back hard, arguing the move follows a familiar pattern. “We’ve seen this playbook before,” he wrote, claiming Labs is presenting a $50 million funding request as a benevolent fix after previously diverting revenue. He warned that governance risks becoming “theater” if one party can consistently sway votes with its token holdings.

What began as a revenue proposal has quickly become a broader debate about decentralization, control, and who truly steers one of DeFi’s largest protocols.

Why Bitcoin Developers Are Not Incentivized to Talk About the Quantum Threat

Justin Drake and Chris Peikert break down the quantum computing threat to crypto and whether bitcoiners underestimate it.

Are bitcoiners underestimating the quantum threat to Bitcoin? That’s the question Castle Island Ventures Partner Nic Carter has posed with some recent posts gauging the views of several leading Bitcoin developers on quantum computing.

To help answer the question, Unchained reached out to Ethereum Foundation Researcher Justin Drake and Michigan University Professor Chris Peikert. In this episode, Justin and Chris, who is one of the foremost experts on lattice cryptography, break down the quantum computing threat to crypto and the potential timelines.

Justin theorizes that Bitcoin developers may not be incentivized to talk about the quantum computing risk while still saying that a number of smart people are already taking it seriously and that may be enough.

Conversely, Chris highlights the constraints that come with uncertainty around risks and timelines.

Listen to find out what they conclude. Plus, could AI do crypto in before quantum computers?

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Fountain, Podcast Addict,Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.

• 💱 World Liberty Financial, the Trump-family-backed DeFi project, plans to launch “World Swap,” a foreign-exchange and remittance platform targeting the $9.6 trillion-a-day FX market, expanding beyond crypto lending as lawmakers scrutinize its foreign investment ties.

• 🗳️ Crypto-backed super PAC Protect Progress committed $1.5 million to unseat Representative Al Green in Texas’s Democratic primary, escalating the digital asset industry’s effort to reshape Congress by targeting a longtime Financial Services Committee member who opposed major crypto market and stablecoin legislation.

• 📊 SEC Chair Paul Atkins signaled that some prediction markets may fall under the agency’s authority, arguing the regulator already has sufficient power to oversee contracts that resemble securities, potentially expanding oversight beyond the CFTC depending on how such products are structured and described.

• ✈️ Ethzilla, an ETH treasury company, launched the first tradable aviation asset token on Ethereum, converting revenue-generating Boeing 737-800 aircraft engines leased to major U.S. airlines into digital tokens that allow qualified investors to access engine-leasing cash flows through secondary market trading.

• 🇰🇷🔐 Seoul’s Gangnam Police lost 22 seized bitcoin worth about $1.5 million after funds were drained from a USB cold wallet held since 2021, prompting an internal investigation amid wider scrutiny of how Korean authorities safeguard confiscated crypto assets.

• 🤝 The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission formed a 35-member Innovation Advisory Committee packed with crypto heavyweights, giving the derivatives regulator direct input from exchange leaders, blockchain founders and traditional market giants as it shapes future digital-asset rules.

• 🏦 BlackRock boosted its stake in Bitmine — an Ethereum-focused treasury company whose stock acts as a leveraged ETH bet — by 166% to $246 million, doubling down on tokenization despite Ethereum’s sharp price drop and mounting losses across the mining and treasury sector.

• 💻 Cango, a China-linked Bitcoin mining firm, raised $75.5 million in new equity after selling $305 million worth of bitcoin, strengthening insider voting control while pivoting its mining infrastructure toward AI and high-performance computing services.

• 📉 Standard Chartered cut its 2026 bitcoin price forecast to $100,000, citing rising global economic uncertainty and slowing corporate treasury demand, while still maintaining a bold $500,000 target for 2030 and warning that near-term momentum now depends heavily on ETF-driven inflows.

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