Coinbase posts monster Q1 results ahead of direct listing

Cryptocurrency company Coinbase posted $1.8 billion in revenue for Q1 2021—more than it brought in for all of 2020, ahead of its direct listing next week.

Why it matters: Coinbase's public listing is hotly anticipated and seen by insiders as an event that will bring validation to the industry.

• Coinbase's business is highly dependent on bitcoin and the cryptocurrency market at large, so it's no surprise that CFO Alesia Haas greatly emphasized during a short presentation on Tuesday how the company manages its revenue and expenses.

What they're saying: "To state the obvious, our business is hard to forecast," Haas said during the scripted comments, adding that it's largely because it can't predict the prices of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

• As such, the company forecasts multiple revenue and expense scenarios so it can be prepared. It also uses periods of high profits to build up its balance sheet and have reserves during so-called "crypto winters" when prices are down so it can continue investing in longer-term areas.
• "We seek to roughly break even in terms of profitability over time," she added.

By the numbers:

• Revenue: $1.8 billion revenue
• Adjusted EBITDA: $1.1 billion
• Net income: $730-800 million
• Trading Volume: $335 billion
• Verified users: 56 million
• Monthly transacting users: 6.1 million

Go deeper: Coinbase's public debut brings crypto to Main Street