In late 2022 and early 2023, the Coinbase exchange was in a precarious position in terms of the law. The exchange has been accused by the SEC of selling unregistered securities via its staking program. Even last year, the exchange was once again sued by the SEC for facilitating the trade of 13 crypto tokens, including Solana, Cardano, and Polygon, which the commission believes are securities.

While this string of legal issues would be disheartening for any exchange, Coinbase is still in a good place in terms of market performance.

First, there is COIN, its official stock, which has been performing well in the market. As of this article, COIN is trading at $278.28 per token, which is impressive by any metric. In fact, ARK Invest recently had to offload 74,291 Coinbase shares, valued at $20.8 million, from three of its ETFs.

The reason for this is that ARK does not hold more than 10% of its ETFs’ portfolio value in one single asset. In the event that an asset becomes so valuable that it exceeds this figure, a massive selloff is triggered. Of course, this spells good news for Coinbase.

Furthermore, every other day, we hear of underground or upcoming tokens that go on to make their initial investors a lot of money and this leads to other investors seeking out the next big thing. As Michael Shaw explains, the best upcoming Coinbase listings see a lot of attention from investors because they are believed to be the next big thing – the platform is always hitting headlines and attracting new investors.

On top of this, the current state of the market has favored the exchange. During bull runs, trading volumes spike and because a majority of crypto users trade on exchanges, this is big business for platforms like Coinbase. And currently, there are whispers of incoming activity.

According to Whale Report, which tracks the activities of crypto whales, $1.5 billion worth of crypto was moved to Coinbase from whale accounts. 22,731 Ethereum tokens worth about $78.4 million, $75.9 million in USDC, and $72.7 million in Bitcoin were deposited into the exchange from unknown wallets and this has gotten the community excited.

Any activity from crypto whales tends to make headlines but these incidents are especially interesting. This level of activity could mean a few things. First, it could indicate that there will be pressure to sell off holdings in the near future. Whales choosing to exit a market could trigger other traders to do the same, which could impact the current prices of Bitcoin, Ether, and USDC. On the other hand, this activity could mean that the whales are going to swap their tokens for another, which could trigger a price spike.

Coinbase is also on track to benefit from the increased crypto investment we will see this year. As we’ve said, bull runs lead to a spike in investment but this will not be limited to Bitcoin alone. Prosperity within the crypto industry leads to more tokens of different types being launched, all in a bid to enjoy the same success.

After all, Coinbase is one of the biggest exchanges on the planet, and getting listed on it is no small feat. If a minor token is able to score this coup, it could be an indicator that there are bigger things to come for it. So, investors watch these new listings to buy in early and hopefully make the biggest profit. This, of course, means more trading volumes for Coinbase and more revenue made across the board.

It is worth noting that Coinabse also garners attention when it does the opposite. In early 2024, Coinbase announced that it would be delisting several tokens including Aragon (ANT), ATA, DREP, Bitcoin SV, SNT, MONA, and SYLO. While exchanges delist tokens all the time, it is still a big deal when an exchange of Coinbase’s size withdraws support for a token. It is not unusual for the value of a token to go down following delisting.

This is because, first, it loses whatever transaction volume it enjoyed from the exchange in question and also because investors take delisting as a vote of no confidence and might also withdraw support for the token.

Even with the delistings, Coinbase has managed to corner the market not just for crypto but for other assets as well. Besides crypto, Coinabse allows for the trading of stocks, NFTs, and so on. Users who want to make money through staking and lending can also have their needs met on the platform. This is in line with the robust services offered by other exchanges like Binance and has kept Coinbase prominent within the industry.

Another notable venture on Coinbase’s part is Base, a layer-2 Ethereum chain that has shot to the top in terms of use. As of this article, Base is gunning for Blast’s position as the third-largest Ethereum Layer-2 solution. This coincided with the just-completed Dencun Upgrade on the Ethereum network.

Thanks to this upgrade, transaction fees using Ethereum have been reduced and this, in turn, has reduced the fees associated with layer-2 solutions like base. It has also caused a migration of meme tokens from Solana to Base.

Meme tokens have been a fairly controversial category of tokens in the industry. Based on internet memes, they were previously seen as just joke assets not to be taken seriously, even by hardcore crypto lovers. But following the success of Dogecoin, many other tokens have followed this path and now, meme coins are some of the most profitable tokens on the market.

The fact that Coinbase is fast becoming a go-to for them thanks to Base only spells more profit for its parent company.

Coinbase has had a truly remarkable story, having remained one of the top crypto exchanges in the world for years, even amidst changing trends. From being a go-to for crypto whales looking to trade to becoming a successful publicly-traded company to launching a layer-2 Ethereum solution, Coinbase’s reign is not ending anytime soon.