Crypto exchange Coinbase discloses how many users it has

Coinbase now has over 35 million users in over 100 countries, the world’s most popular cryptocurrency exchange said in a new report. 

San Francisco-based Coinbase said in its Crypto H1 2020 institutional review that it now operates the largest regulated exchange in the world—and it is continuing to grow. 

The 35 million users mark, which includes its retail and institutional clients, is up five million from last year.

Last July, Alistair Milne, the CIO of the Altana Digital Currency Fund, the London-based crypto arm of the Altana Investments hedge fund, tweeted a spreadsheet showing Coinbase’s growth year-on-year. 

It showed a growth of five million in 10 months. Coinbase did not say how many of these users are active users; some users may be dormant. 

The Coinbase report added that crypto is also continuing to be adopted by traditional finance. It noted that “many larger and more conservative institutional investors are allocating for the first time, using Coinbase to build direct positions and backing crypto fund managers as part of their alternatives strategy.”

This has always been Coinbase’s aim: the exchange has its Prime platform for financial institutions looking to trade with business funds, and Coinbase Custody, which provides financial institutions with a safe and secure means to store digital assets. 

Coinbase’s review of the cryptocurrency landscape also noted the explosion of Decentralized Finance (DeFi), which has in part been fueled by the exchange. Last month, it listed the top DeFi token Compound last month and in December gave their users the opportunity to earn DAI by opening a Collateralized Debt Position (CDP) on the Maker platform. 

The exchange said in the report that while it believes DeFi “will be extremely powerful long-term,” users should note that “the market is still in its infancy.” But Coinbase added that they will “continue to support the growth of DeFi protocols” through their own products and investments.