Bloomberg Intelligence said Coinbase’s stablecoin revenue, which is tied to its $USDC revenue share with Circle and was 19% of total revenue in 2025, may increase two to seven times if $USDC adoption in payments accelerates.
Despite reporting a net loss of $667 million in the fourth quarter of 2025, according to Coinbase’s Q4 2025 shareholder letter, the company netted about $1.35 billion in stablecoin revenue last year.
That figure was up from $911 million in 2024, with $364 million in stablecoin revenue in Q4 2025 alone, as interest income on $USDC ($USDC) balances became a high-margin line for the exchange, compared with volatile trading fees.
Stablecoins themselves have gone mainstream in usage terms. Total stablecoin transaction volume hit a record $33 trillion in 2025, with $USDC accounting for about $18.3 trillion of that, ahead of Tether’s USDt (USDT) by transaction value, although Tether leads in market cap.
Coinbase revenue 2025. Source: SEC 8-K filing
Politics of stablecoin yield
That growth is exactly why the politics around stablecoin yield have become so fraught. The Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act, signed by US President Donald Trump in July 2025, created a federal regime for payment stablecoins and explicitly bars issuers from paying interest or yield to holders.
Related: Who gets the yield? CLARITY Act becomes fight over onchain dollars
That provision is backed by the banking lobby because yield‑bearing stablecoins could siphon deposits from the traditional system.
Banks and their allies now want to go further in the Senate’s Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act of 2025 negotiations by closing what they see as a loophole that still allows non‑issuer affiliates, such as exchanges like Coinbase, to pass some of the interest on reserves back to customers as “rewards.”
Draft Senate language of the market structure bill could extend the yield ban and prevent Coinbase from offering any rewards tied to stablecoin balances.
In January, Coinbase withdrew support for the bill after objecting to provisions that would restrict its ability to offer stablecoin rewards to customers.
Coinbase earns a share of interest income from $USDC reserves through its partnership with Circle, and the companies split that revenue based on $USDC distribution.
Ironically, Armstrong told investors that if Congress bans rewards, the company would keep more of the Circle revenue share, making the stablecoin line more profitable, despite users losing out on yield.
Cointelegraph reached out to Coinbase but had not received a response by publication time.
What’s next for CLARITY?
The CLARITY Act, which bundles a Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) split with tougher language on third‑party stablecoin yield, is currently working its way through the Senate.
Senator Bernie Moreno has said he expected the CLARITY Act to clear Congress as soon as April.
With stablecoins already accounting for almost a fifth of Coinbase’s revenue and onchain dollar volumes hitting record highs, the eventual shape of those yield rules may matter more for Coinbase’s business model than the next crypto price cycle.
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