crypto earnings

Transaction volume on the exchange fell 12% in 2022's fourth quarter, but the firm still beat forecast earnings despite a 57% year-on-year revenue drop.

United States-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has beaten revenue expectations for the fourth quarter of 2022 but continued to see its transaction volume decline.

Net revenue for the exchange came in at $605 million for the quarter, beating the $589 million revenue reportedly estimated by Wall Street analysts

Transaction volumes decreased 12% compared to the prior quarter, however, Coinbase pointed to a 34% increase in subscription and service revenues as the reason for its 5% total revenue growth for the quarter.  

Our Q4 and FY'22 financial results are in.

Our letter to shareholders can be found on the Investor Relations website at https://t.co/8ovHEtPRgf

— Coinbase (@coinbase) February 21, 2023

While Coinbase reiterated its belief that its staking products are not securities, staking revenues fell compared to the prior quarter as the fall in crypto prices outweighed the increase in staked balances across all crypto tokens.

Related: US regulatory crackdown leads to $32M digital asset outflows: CoinShares

The exchange is currently facing an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) into its staking products, similar to the one which resulted in its peer crypto exchange Kraken settling with the regulator for $30 million.

Coinbase noted that 2022 was "a challenging year for crypto markets," with macroeconomic events and events such as the bankruptcies of crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital and exchanges Voyager and Celsius resulting in strong headwinds for the industry.