Coinbase plans to become the largest staking platform in the world and names the staking product in the latest shareholder letter already an “early win.” It further indicates that staking is one of the products it is currently prioritizing with the long-term goal of becoming the largest staking provider in the world.
Ethereum, Algorand, Cosmos and Tezos
You can stake all kinds of projects at Coinbase such as Cosmos, Algorand, Tezos, Cardano, Solana and of course Ethereum. The latter name in particular seems to be an important factor in Coinbase’s decision to opt for strike action. Ethereum is the largest project in the industry after Bitcoin and by far the largest brand in the field of altcoins.
Ethereum’s transition from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake is imminent, making this the ultimate time to push Coinbase’s staking product.
Coinbase does not say in the letter how many users are currently staking crypto on the platform, but does indicate that more has been staked in Q2 than in Q1. “At the beginning of August, we made it possible for our institutional clients to discontinue Ethereum for the first time. We will continue to add more assets for our retail and institutional clients in the future,” Coinbase said of their staking platform.
From traders to hodlers
Alesia Haas, the head of the finance department at Coinbase, indicates that the exchange platform has observed an interesting shift in recent months. “Investors are currently changing from active traders to hodlers. The number of users who perform monthly transactions is 200,000 users higher than the same period in 2021,” said Haas. This is striking, given that Coinbase’s revenue has fallen sharply.
In that respect, the shift to staking is smart, because then Coinbase can still earn some money on the hodl behavior of their customers. If they forfeit their coins, Coinbase will of course also capture a small percentage of the proceeds for unburdening the users. Thanks to Coinbase, they no longer have to arrange an entire staking setup themselves.