Coinbase runs a platform where people and businesses buy, sell, hold and use crypto assets. It says it is working toward becoming the "Everything Exchange": in December 2025 it widened what customers can trade to include stocks, commodity futures, perpetual futures and prediction markets, as well as crypto.
It serves three groups of customers. Consumers are retail users who hold, invest or trade. Institutions include market makers, asset managers, hedge funds, banks and companies, who use its custody and trading products. Developers, such as technology firms, banks and payment companies, use its Base Chain and Coinbase Developer Platform to build crypto products.
Coinbase makes money in two main ways: transaction fees, for example on consumer trading, and subscription products, such as its stablecoin products. It says it holds customer assets one-to-one at all times. It also stakes crypto for customers, lends to them against collateral, and holds some investments in decentralized finance protocols.