Bullish Shares Drop After Crypto Exchange Reports Record Q3 Revenue – Decrypt

Shares in publicly traded crypto exchange Bullish have fallen by more than 5% after the firm reported its Q3 earnings on Wednesday morning.

The exchange reported record adjusted revenue and net income of $76.5 million and $18.5 million in Q3, respectively. That compares to $44.6 million in adjusted revenue and a net loss of $67.3 million during the quarter last year.

“After posting record subscriptions, services, and other revenue (SS&O) and record profitability in the third quarter, we are continuing to see strong momentum in the fourth quarter,” said Bullish CFO David Bonanno in a statement.

“Our recently launched options product has already surpassed $1 billion in trading volume and quarter-to-date spot trading volume is up 77% from Q3. We continue to expand our liquidity services ecosystem and feel confident that our diversified business model will deliver sustained, profitable growth,” he added.

The Peter Theil-backed exchange fully launched its options product and its U.S. exchange during the quarter, with CEO Tom Farley noting on its Q3 earnings call that it has already “onboarded marquee customers.” 

“We expect many more records in 2025 as a whole,” said Farley. “In the last six weeks, our momentum has only increased.” 

In September, the firm announced it had completed the historically difficult process of receiving New York’s BitLicense, a regulatory license that allows it to operate as a digital asset trading and custody business in the state. 

Moving forward, Bullish is focusing on positioning itself at the intersection of key crypto trends it identified as regulatory clarity, institutional adoption, and real-world asset (RWA) tokenization. 

“We are more convinced than ever that we are on the right path,” said Farley. “We are squarely positioned at the center of each of these trends. We are proud of our regulatory footprint and are pleased with the ongoing institutional adoption that we are helping to drive.” 

Farley centered on tokenization, though, calling it the “most transformational crypto value proposition of the next decade.” He said the firm has submitted an application with the SEC to receive regulatory approval as a transfer agent, which would supplement its tokenization strategies for U.S. securities. 

Tokenization of U.S. equities has been a growing theme this year, with Nasdaq recently filing with the SEC to allow trading of tokenized stocks and companies like Robinhood and Coinbase working towards tokenized equity products as well. 

Additionally, popular stocks like Tesla and Apple, among others, have generated more than $2 billion in on-chain volume via XStocks. 

Bullish completed its IPO in August at $37 a share. It rose as high as $118, but has since fallen to trade below the IPO price, recently changing hands at $35.87.