Coinbase has achieved a significant milestone by becoming the only full-service prime brokerage in the crypto industry. According to John D'Agostino, head of strategy at Coinbase Institutional, the company has successfully assembled a comprehensive suite of services, including trading, custody, financing, derivatives, and cross-margining, thereby meeting the traditional Wall Street definition of a prime broker. This is a notable achievement, as only a handful of firms in the equities and fixed income markets, such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, qualify as full-service primes.
In the crypto space, Coinbase is the only company that offers all these services natively, without requiring clients to piece them together from different providers. The company's flagship platform, Coinbase Prime, has over $350 billion in assets under custody and serves as a custodian for more than 80% of U.S. bitcoin and ether ETF assets. The recent rollout of cross-margining between spot and derivatives positions has further solidified Coinbase's position as a prime broker.
With its comprehensive suite of services, including a $1 billion lending book and a significant derivatives footprint, Coinbase has become a key bridge between traditional finance and crypto markets.