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COIN / BTC Ratio (Coinbase vs Bitcoin)

Coinbase Global (COIN) share price divided by Bitcoin USD. Coinbase is the largest US-listed crypto exchange and the cleanest publicly-traded proxy for crypto-infrastructure equity beta. When the ratio rises, COIN is outperforming BTC (exchange volumes accelerating faster than price). When it falls, COIN is underperforming BTC (regulatory drag, fee compression, or volume divergence). Daily values from Yahoo Finance with fallback snapshot.

Last updated: 18 May 2026 By Govind Satoshi

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Coinbase share price (USD) divided by Bitcoin USD price. Log scale so percentage moves across the cycle are visually comparable. Hover for exact ratio values. Click Fullscreen for a presentation-grade view.

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Coinbase: the US crypto infrastructure leader

Coinbase Global was founded in 2012 and direct-listed on NASDAQ on 14 April 2021 (ticker COIN) at a $76 billion fully-diluted reference price. It is the largest US-listed crypto exchange and one of the few profitable crypto operating businesses through multiple cycles.

Revenue mix has shifted substantially since IPO:

  • Trading fees. Was ~85 percent of revenue at IPO; now ~50 percent. Highest-margin business, scales with retail engagement which scales with crypto prices.
  • Subscription and services. USDC interest income (Coinbase is the issuer-economic partner for USDC), institutional custody fees, staking commission, Coinbase One subscriptions, Base L2 sequencer revenue. Now ~50 percent of revenue. Lower-volatility, recurring-revenue character.
  • BTC ETF custody. Coinbase Custody is custodian for the majority of US-listed spot BTC ETFs (IBIT, FBTC, ARKB and others). Generates basis-point-level custody fees on roughly USD 100B+ AUM. Recurring, low-margin but stable.

The June 2023 SEC suit alleging COIN operated as an unregistered exchange was a major overhang for ~18 months. The case was dismissed without prejudice in mid-2024 after a regulatory regime change; the dismissal removed a significant discount from COIN's multiple.

What the COIN / BTC ratio tracks

The numerator is COIN's share price in USD. The denominator is Bitcoin's USD price. The ratio captures crypto-infrastructure equity performance vs spot BTC.

Three regimes are visible since the April 2021 IPO:

  • Bull-cycle outperformance (Apr-Nov 2021). COIN-as-IPO-darling traded at a premium. Ratio peaked around 0.0066 at the IPO close, then drifted as BTC continued rallying without COIN keeping pace.
  • Bear-cycle drawdown (2022). COIN's revenue is volume-sensitive, not just price-sensitive. The 2022 bear market crushed retail engagement; daily active traders fell ~70 percent. Combined with regulatory pressure and fee compression from FTX-induced competition, COIN fell to $33 in December 2022 - a 91 percent drawdown vs BTC's 75 percent drawdown. Ratio compressed to ~0.0020.
  • Diversified-business recovery (2024-25). Subscription-and-services revenue grew faster than trading revenue, building a more durable base. SEC suit dismissed mid-2024. Spot BTC ETF launches positioned COIN as primary institutional custodian. Ratio expanded back toward IPO-era levels as the equity multiple re-rated.

Why AU investors watch COIN

  • Pure-play crypto infrastructure exposure. AU investors who hold spot BTC on Independent Reserve or CoinSpot but want additional crypto-thematic equity exposure use COIN as the publicly-traded infrastructure pick. There is no ASX-listed equivalent.
  • USD currency layer. COIN is USD-denominated. AUD-resident investors via Stake, IB, or US-brokerage access pick up COIN USD return plus AUD/USD currency move.
  • Different beta from MSTR. MSTR is essentially a leveraged BTC holding company. COIN is a diversified crypto operating business with revenue from trading, custody, USDC, and staking. Beta to BTC is lower but exposure breadth is wider.
  • ATO CGT treatment. US-listed shares including COIN are CGT assets for AU-resident holders. The 50 percent CGT discount applies for 12+ month holdings. Currency gains/losses on the AUD/USD layer are part of the CGT calculation per ATO TR 96/14.

Methodology

  1. Source. Yahoo Finance, ticker COIN for Coinbase Global and BTC-USD for Bitcoin.
  2. Endpoint. https://query1.finance.yahoo.com/v8/finance/chart/COIN?interval=1d (public chart endpoint, no API key required).
  3. Adjusted close. Yahoo's daily adjusted close. COIN has not split or paid dividends so adjusted close equals raw close.
  4. Series start. 14 April 2021 (COIN direct listing day).
  5. Ratio calculation. Daily COIN adjusted close divided by daily BTC-USD close. Only days where both values are available are kept - weekend BTC values are dropped since COIN does not trade.
  6. Log scale. Y axis is log-scaled so a doubling of the ratio looks the same visually regardless of absolute level.
  7. Static-first. If Yahoo is unreachable on a given build, the existing snapshot is preserved.

Frequently asked questions

The ratio is Coinbase share price (USD) divided by Bitcoin USD price. It captures relative performance: a rising ratio means COIN is outperforming BTC, a falling ratio means COIN is underperforming BTC. Since Coinbase revenue is driven primarily by exchange trading volumes which correlate strongly with crypto prices, the ratio is also a rough proxy for retail engagement vs price beta.

Coinbase's revenue is tied to trading volume, not just price. The 2022 bear market saw retail engagement collapse far more than price - daily active traders fell ~70 percent while BTC fell ~65 percent. Combined with operating-leverage headwinds (high fixed-cost base), regulatory pressure (SEC vs Coinbase suit filed June 2023), and fee compression from FTX-induced competition, COIN fell from $381 (IPO close, April 2021) to $33 (December 2022) - a 91 percent drawdown vs BTC's 75 percent drawdown. The ratio compressed from 0.0066 to 0.0020.

Different exposures. MSTR is essentially a BTC-treasury holding company with leverage; it tracks BTC price more directly. COIN is a crypto-infrastructure operating business - revenues come from trading fees, custody, USDC interest, and increasingly subscription products. COIN has more idiosyncratic risk (regulatory, competitive) but also more upside from secular crypto adoption beyond just BTC price. For pure BTC proxy use MSTR; for diversified crypto-infrastructure equity use COIN.

Yahoo Finance, ticker COIN for Coinbase and BTC-USD for Bitcoin, fetched via the public v8/finance/chart endpoint on every site build. COIN went public via direct listing on 14 April 2021 so the series begins there. The build pipeline preserves the last-known-good snapshot if Yahoo is temporarily unreachable so the chart always renders.

Aggressively. The June 2023 SEC suit alleging COIN operated as an unregistered exchange saw the ratio compress sharply (~25 percent in days) even though BTC barely moved. The January 2024 spot BTC ETF approvals lifted the ratio as Coinbase was named custodian for most ETF issuers. The November 2024 US election results saw the ratio expand sharply on expectations of a friendlier regulatory regime. The signal: regulatory headlines move COIN independently of BTC price, which is why the ratio swings more than the BTC-only chart would suggest.

COIN is US-listed only - there is no ASX-listed Coinbase equivalent. AUD-resident investors access COIN via Stake, Interactive Brokers, CMC Markets, or similar US-equity broker access. The position is USD-denominated; AUD/USD currency moves layer on top of the underlying USD return. ATO CGT applies to gains in AUD-equivalent terms on disposal. Note that buying COIN does not give you crypto exposure in the legal sense; you're buying equity in a US-listed Nasdaq company that happens to have crypto operations.

About the author

Govind Satoshi
Govind Satoshi
Former Institutional Trader. Founder, SatoshiMacro.
Traded allocated institutional capital at a Sydney proprietary trading firm.