On June 13, Coinbase released several major updates simultaneously. First, Shopify announced it would enable USDC payments on Base through Shopify Payments and Shop Pay at checkout. Meanwhile, Coinbase decided to integrate DEX on the Base chain into its main application. Even more unexpectedly, the CFTC-regulated Coinbase announced it would launch 24/7 perpetual contracts in the U.S. market.

As the saying goes, "Slowly, then all at once," Coinbase dropped a series of significant developments on the market in a short period. The question remains: can this series of moves position Coinbase to surpass other exchanges and become the largest compliant crypto ecosystem?

When a S&P 500 Listed Exchange Connects to Its Own Blockchain

It’s worth noting that Base, as a Layer 2 blockchain, has achieved impressive results within just two years of its launch: 535 protocols, 1.23 million active addresses, $5.1 billion in DeFi TVL, and $4.1 billion in total stablecoin volume. Not only does its UOPS (User Operations Per Second) significantly lead all Layer 2s, but it also places in the top five across public chains in terms of protocol count, protocol revenue, active addresses, DeFi TVL, and stablecoin volume.

Base is also experimenting with various on-chain business models, ranging from DID to the creator economy, financial social networks to AI. For on-chain users, the frequency of "blockbuster" tokens with ultra-high valuations is comparatively lower than other DEGEN chains. However, for developers and project teams, Base is a fertile ground for "positive feedback," making it one of the most developer-friendly blockchains out there.

Following in the footsteps of Binance and OKX, at the 2025 Cryptocurrency Summit held yesterday, Coinbase VP of Product Management Max Branzburg announced that Coinbase would integrate DEX on the Base chain into its main app, with future applications embedding DEX trading functionality. Coinbase currently boasts over 100 million registered users, with 8 million monthly active trading users. According to Coinbase’s investor report, the value of customer assets on its platform amounts to $328 billion.

Retail trading only accounts for about 18% of the transactions on Coinbase. Starting in 2024, the trading volume of Coinbase's institutional clients has been steadily increasing (reaching $256 billion in trading volume in Q1 2024, which constituted 82.05% of the total trade volume). With Coinbase integrating DEXs on Base, it is expected to introduce massive liquidity to the thousands of tokens on the Base chain. More importantly, the wealth of products within the Base ecosystem may gain access to Coinbase's compliant conduits to the real world.

Coinbase Institutional Client Trading Volume, Source: Backlinko

The first to respond to this news was Base's top DEX, Aerodrome, which announced that the DEX features of its Base network would be integrated into Coinbase's main app. Following the announcement, the price of Aerodrome's token, $AERO, surged nearly 30% within 24 hours, before slightly retracing to the current price of $0.76.

How Coinbase is Unlocking the Large-Scale Stablecoin Market?

Partnership with Shopify

On June 13, e-commerce platform Shopify announced a partnership with Coinbase and Stripe to enable merchants to accept USDC stablecoin payments issued by Circle. Through this service, consumers in 34 countries can pay with USDC on the Base chain. This collaboration opens the gateway for millions of merchants to start using USDC. Merchants have the option to receive payments directly in USDC or convert them into local fiat currencies, which can then be deposited directly into their bank accounts.

Meanwhile, Coinbase and Shopify have jointly launched a "Business Payments Protocol" aiming to solve the challenges of cryptocurrency adoption in commercial payment scenarios. Together, they are building new custodial smart contracts on Base, enabling seamless crypto payments within e-commerce ecosystems. Authorization, capture, and refunds will be supported by Stripe, offering merchants the option to settle in either local fiat or USDC in a fully seamless user experience. Looking forward, the protocol will introduce APIs requiring no prior knowledge of crypto. Additionally, integrated wallets will allow users to complete payments directly via signature authorization.

As one of the world's most renowned "independent site" e-commerce platforms, Shopify's growth trend in recent years has been evident. Shopify's GMV (Gross Merchandise Volume) reached $235.91 billion in 2023, climbed to $292.28 billion by 2024, and was $74.75 billion in Q1 2025, marking a 23% YoY increase over the same period last year.

Shopify's primary customer base is located in Europe and North America, regions with higher cryptocurrency adoption and compliance. The advantages of USDC in cross-border payments will provide significant convenience for merchants focusing on independent site operations like Shopify. Therefore, a partnership between the two may encourage a certain percentage of merchants to adopt this payment ecosystem.

Collaboration with American Express

On June 13, Coinbase announced a partnership with American Express to launch the Coinbase One Card, a crypto-based credit card exclusively for annual subscribers of Coinbase One. This marks the first time American Express has issued a cryptocurrency credit card.

This card comes with several benefits, including a $500 monthly limit with no transaction fees, as well as up to 4% Bitcoin cashback on purchases. Moreover, the more assets you hold on Coinbase, the higher your rewards rate.

However, Graham Stephan, a real estate investor with 5 million YouTube subscribers, stated he would not opt for the Coinbase One Card and instead prefers the Robinhood Gold Card. He explained, "You need to hold a certain amount of assets on Coinbase, which requires at least $10,250 to break even." In comparison, "the Robinhood Gold Card has a $50 annual subscription fee and offers unlimited 3% cashback that can be invested in BTC. Compared to a standard 2% cashback card, the Robinhood Gold Card's breakeven point is $5,000."

With USDC issuer CIRCLE's strong recent performance upon going public in the U.S. stock market, USDC's trading volume this month reached $76 billion, surpassing USDT to lead the stablecoin space.

However, we can see that in terms of supply, active addresses, and market share, USDC's scale is only about one-third that of USDT. With Coinbase opening up pathways between CeFi and DeFi, enabling online shopping channels as well as physical spending routes, USDC's growth is expected to continue steadily.

Reactivating the Contract Button for Americans

Aside from its efforts in the stablecoin sector, Coinbase has also made a "game-changing" move in trading. This series of actions align with its response to the previous quarter’s financial report, where EPS, revenue, and platform activity all decreased collectively. Contrary to the more market-volatile spot trading, contract trading serves as a more "stable" revenue source.

As a result, Coinbase has taken several measures, the most noteworthy being its recent announcement to launch 24/7 perpetual futures contracts in the U.S., compliant with Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) regulations. Earlier, on May 9, Coinbase had already rolled out 24/7 Bitcoin and Ethereum futures trading through its CFTC-regulated exchange Coinbase Derivatives (formerly the CFTC-regulated derivatives trading platform FairX), LLC. Additionally, during the same month, Coinbase completed its acquisition of Deribit, one of the world's largest cryptocurrency options exchanges, officially entering the competition within the top-tier derivatives markets.

Deribit wields significant influence in non-U.S. markets, particularly in Asia and Europe. The acquisition grants Coinbase access to Deribit's leading position in Bitcoin and Ethereum options trading, accounting for "approximately 80% of global options trading volume, with daily trading volumes exceeding $2 billion." Furthermore, 80-90% of Deribit's user base consists of institutional investors, who highly value its expertise and deep liquidity in the Bitcoin and Ethereum options markets. Coinbase’s compliance advantages paired with its robust institutional ecosystem make it a perfect fit, enabling it to leverage institutions as an entry point to compete against giants like Binance and OKX in the derivatives market.

In the U.S. market, there has long been a lack of compliant derivatives offerings following regulatory crackdowns in recent years. Despite this, the U.S. market remains a "gold mine" for exchanges, especially as options for "American players" are limited to platforms like CME Group, which caters to institutional investors with ETH and BTC options, or unregulated on-chain exchanges like Hyperliquid, which has gained traction recently. For Coinbase, this uniquely "monopolistic" market position lays a shortcut path to success in the derivatives space.

As various CEXs face a slowdown in market user growth at this stage and continue to explore new revenue streams, will the simultaneous rollout of multiple initiatives by Coinbase be able to reshape the current CEX landscape?

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