Coinbase Outperforms Nasdaq as CEXs Grow 2.5X Faster: Analyst

Jamie Coutts, chief crypto analyst at Real Vision, revealed that Coinbase’s 12-month revenue has reached $5.75 billion, placing Coinbase among the top five global exchanges, surpassing traditional financial platforms like Nasdaq and CBOE.

The rapid growth in cryptocurrency trading throughout Q4 has driven the sector to rival traditional finance in overall performance. Coinbase alone accounts for 11% of the global exchange revenue, more than twice that of the decentralized exchange (DEX) market. Despite this, DEXs are growing significantly, contributing to the overall expansion of the crypto sector.

Related: Ripple’s RLUSD Begins Trading December 17: Details

Coinbase Outperforming the Nasdaq

Moving on, Coutts showed that centralized exchanges (CEXs) and DEXs are growing 2.5 to 4 times faster than their traditional finance counterparts. 

But beware that the comparisons between revenue models in crypto and traditional markets are not entirely equivalent.

Obviously, the comparisons aren’t perfectly like-for-like (ie Fees = Revenues) but the point is this sector has been beaten down by regulatory neglect and/or punishment and is primed for a re-rating higher.

Coutts also mentioned that 2025 can be a year of increased competition from traditional financial platforms. Moving on, decentralized finance (DeFi) projects could even post more gains than the top ten cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, including Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH).

Read more: MicroStrategy Buys BTC At $100K, Total Holdings Reach $44B

Coutts suggested that the crypto sector is now ready for a potential market re-evaluation after years of struggling with regulators and the infamous US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).