Coinbase Expands Prime Brokerage Services to Institutional Users

(Bloomberg) -- Coinbase Global Inc. said it will expand its offering of prime brokerage services for institutional customers with a unit that ties together custody, trading, data analytics and other amenities.

Coinbase Prime will provide institutional clients access to pricing on 12 different regulated exchanges, including Coinbase, according to a statement Tuesday. The unit is seeking to function as an umbrella of services ranging from smart-order routing to detailed trade cost analysis reports and concierge support from account management and trading teams.

Coinbase had more than 8,000 institutional clients with about $122 billion in assets on the platform at the end of March. The largest U.S. cryptocurrency exchange generates 5% to 7% of its revenue from institutional clients. The bulk comes from retail investors.

“It opens the door for institutions clustering more and more of their services through us,” Brett Tejpaul, head of institutional sales, trading, custody and Prime services, said in an interview.

The prime brokerage expansion is the latest effort focused building out the institutional business. Coinbase acquired institutional crypto broker Tagomi last year, and institutional custody business of Xapo in 2019.

Coinbase went public via a direct listing in April. After reaching a closing high of $342 on April 16, the shares have slumped about 34%.

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