Coinbase

In twenty twelve, buying bitcoin meant wiring money to a stranger overseas and hoping it arrived. Brian Armstrong built Coinbase to make the process feel like opening a bank account. Enter an email, link a card, press buy. The interface was simple. The fee was not. Retail traders paid one point five percent per transaction. On a one thousand dollar purchase, Coinbase took fifteen dollars. The model had one dependency: volume. In twenty twenty-one, bitcoin climbed to sixty-nine thousand dollars. Coinbase processed eight hundred billion in trades and revenue hit seven point eight billion. Then bitcoin fell to twenty thousand. Volume collapsed. Revenue dropped to three point one billion. Same platform, same technology. The only variable was how often people pressed the buy button. Armstrong added layers that earned money while customers sat still. Staking took twenty-five percent of rewards from crypto held on the platform. Custody charged institutions for storing assets.