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, refreshed twice a day with the last good data kept if the source is unreachable.
Chart
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.
Coinbase: the US crypto infrastructure leader
Coinbase Global was founded in 2012 and direct-listed on NASDAQ on 14 April 2021 (ticker COIN) with a $250 reference price; the shares opened at $381 and closed the first day at $328. 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 a large share of US spot Bitcoin ETF assets. Recurring, low-margin but stable.
The June 2023 SEC suit alleging Coinbase operated as an unregistered exchange was a major overhang for about 20 months. The SEC agreed to drop the case in February 2025 after the change of US administration, removing 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:
- Listing-year swings (Apr-Dec 2021). The ratio started at about 0.0052 on listing day, jumped to about 0.0075 in July 2021 when BTC sold off harder than COIN, then drifted back as BTC rallied to its November peak without COIN keeping pace.
- Bear-cycle drawdown (2022). COIN's revenue is volume-sensitive, not just price-sensitive. The 2022 bear market crushed trading volume and retail engagement. Combined with regulatory pressure and fee competition, COIN fell to $32.53 in December 2022, roughly a 90 percent drawdown against BTC's 77 percent. The ratio compressed to about 0.0020 and bottomed near 0.0017 in May 2023.
- Diversified-business recovery (2024-25). Subscription-and-services revenue grew faster than trading revenue, building a more durable base. Spot BTC ETF launches positioned Coinbase as the primary institutional custodian, and the SEC dropped its case in February 2025. The ratio recovered to about 0.0040 in March 2024 and about 0.0036 at COIN's July 2025 record close, still below its listing-day level.
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
- Source. Yahoo Finance, ticker COIN for Coinbase Global and BTC-USD for Bitcoin.
- Endpoint.
https://query1.finance.yahoo.com/v8/finance/chart/COIN?interval=1d(public chart endpoint, no API key required). - Adjusted close. Yahoo's daily adjusted close. COIN has not split or paid dividends so adjusted close equals raw close.
- Series start. 14 April 2021 (COIN direct listing day).
- 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.
- Log scale. Y axis is log-scaled so a doubling of the ratio looks the same visually regardless of absolute level.
- Refresh and fallback. An automated refresh runs twice a day (07:30 and 13:30 Sydney) and the site rebuilds when the data changes. If Yahoo is unreachable, the last good data is kept.
Data source and download (Yahoo Finance chart API)
Both series come from Yahoo Finance's public chart endpoint, which works in a browser or script with no API key:
https://query1.finance.yahoo.com/v8/finance/chart/COIN?interval=1d&range=max
The range parameter accepts 1mo, 1y, 5y, or max; interval accepts 1d, 1wk, or 1mo. The response is JSON with a timestamp array plus open, high, low, close, and adjusted close arrays. For the ratio, pull BTC-USD from the same endpoint pattern and divide the aligned daily closes. Related crypto-equity and ETF tickers on the same endpoint: MSTR (Strategy), IBIT (BlackRock spot BTC ETF), FBTC (Fidelity spot BTC ETF), HOOD (Robinhood). Yahoo rate-limits unauthenticated requests, so cache responses rather than polling.
Related tools
- MSTR / BTC ratio - the leveraged BTC treasury proxy.
- NASDAQ 100 with BTC overlay - the broader tech-and-growth benchmark COIN is part of.
- S&P 500 with BTC overlay - the global equity benchmark.
- Independent Reserve Review - the AU equivalent infrastructure pick.
- Bitcoin Log Regression (AUD) - BTC cycle positioning.
- Crypto CGT Calculator - for AUD-resident BTC tax planning.
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 trading volume and retail engagement collapse along with price. Combined with operating leverage (a high fixed-cost base), mounting regulatory pressure (the SEC sued Coinbase in June 2023) and fee competition, COIN fell from a $328 close on its April 2021 listing day ($357 at its November 2021 closing high) to $32.53 on 28 December 2022, roughly a 90 percent drawdown against Bitcoin's 77 percent fall from its November 2021 close high. The ratio went from about 0.0052 at listing to about 0.0020 at the end of 2022, and bottomed at about 0.0017 in May 2023.
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 by an automated refresh that runs twice a day (07:30 and 13:30 Sydney time). COIN went public via direct listing on 14 April 2021 so the series begins there. If Yahoo is temporarily unreachable the last good data is kept, so the chart always renders.
Aggressively. The June 2023 SEC suit alleging Coinbase operated as an unregistered exchange cut the ratio by about 20 percent in two trading days (2 to 6 June 2023) while BTC barely moved. The run-up to the January 2024 spot BTC ETF approvals, with Coinbase lined up as custodian for most issuers, roughly doubled the ratio between November and late December 2023 before it fell back as the approvals landed. The November 2024 US election lifted the ratio about 29 percent in a week 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.
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