Coinbase has achieved a milestone in the crypto industry by becoming the only full-service prime brokerage, offering a comprehensive suite of services including trading, custody, financing, derivatives, and cross-margining. According to John D'Agostino, head of strategy at Coinbase Institutional, this is a significant achievement, as it allows the company to provide a one-stop solution for institutional clients.
The company's flagship platform, Coinbase Prime, holds over $350 billion in assets under custody and serves as custodian for more than 80% of U.S. bitcoin and ether ETF assets. With the recent rollout of cross-margining between spot and derivatives positions, Coinbase has solidified its position as a prime broker, allowing market makers and institutional traders to reduce capital requirements. The company's institutional platform processes roughly $236 billion in quarterly trading volume and supports over 470 assets across 20-plus blockchains.
Beyond trading and custody, Coinbase also runs a $1 billion lending book and has a significant listed derivatives footprint through its Deribit integration. D'Agostino believes that no other firm is currently offering all of these services in one place, making Coinbase a leader in the crypto prime brokerage space.