Coinbase’s S&P 500 debut signals mainstream acceptance, yet regulatory and security challenges show the road ahead remains complex.
Coinbase closed 2025 with a series of landmark achievements, including joining the S&P 500, securing European regulatory approval, and surpassing $1 billion in crypto-backed loans.
The year also marked major corporate and product developments, from record-breaking acquisitions to broader access for on-chain assets, solidifying the exchange’s position as a leading full-stack crypto platform.
Record Growth and Global Expansion
In a January 6 post on X, Coinbase listed its milestones from last year, including becoming the first crypto-native company listed on the S&P 500, cementing the place of digital assets in mainstream financial portfolios.
The exchange also completed ten acquisitions, including Liquifi Finance, Echodot.xyz, and Deribit, which incidentally was the largest acquisition in crypto history, broadening its offerings from token launch support to secondary trading.
On the regulatory front, Coinbase secured approval under Europe’s MiCA framework, allowing it to offer regulated crypto services across the EU with a single license. U.S. operations also evolved, with the company reincorporating in Texas.
Institutional trading grew as the exchange introduced 24/7 CFTC-regulated futures, U.S.-style perpetuals, and cross-margin trading, while retail users gained access to crypto-backed loans exceeding $1 billion in Bitcoin collateral, now including Ethereum loans as well.
The firm’s product expansion included Solana DEX trading within its app, offering 100 million users access to millions of tokens on the fast-growing blockchain. Additionally, token sales returned to retail with fair allocation models, the Coinbase One Card launched with Bitcoin rewards, and Base, the platform’s social, trading, and payments app, rolled out globally.
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2025 also brought legal victories. The SEC voluntarily dismissed its case against the exchange, ending prolonged litigation that many in the industry saw as a major regulatory hurdle.
Rising Ambitions Meet Persistent Security Concerns
Despite its commercial successes, Coinbase faces ongoing criticism over security and user protection. Following CEO Brian Armstrong’s 2026 roadmap announcement, crypto researcher Taylor Monahan argued earlier in the week that user safety was still not a priority, citing over $350 million in preventable losses in 2025.
She referenced a 2024 incident where a Coinbase Commerce contract was linked to suspicious outflows of $15.9 million, an issue highlighted at the time by investigator ZachXBT. Critics say the exchange’s rapid growth and new product launches, including prediction markets and expanded trading, have at times outpaced its security infrastructure.
The company is also engaging in new legal battles. Last year, it filed lawsuits against Illinois, Michigan, and Connecticut, challenging state efforts to classify prediction market contracts as illegal gambling. Coinbase argued that these products fall under the exclusive federal jurisdiction of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). This move came just ahead of its planned January 2026 rollout of event-based contract trading via a partnership with CFTC-regulated platform Kalshi.
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