An Overview of the "Midterm Report" from Six Crypto Institutions: Strategy Earns Billions, Coinbase Relies on Investments to Save the Day

Original Author: Nancy, PANews

The crypto earnings season is upon us, and major institutions have submitted their "mid-term reports" for 2025. Some have achieved soaring profits through skyrocketing valuations of their balance sheet assets, while others are struggling to find transformation paths amid a slowdown in core business. The industry is gradually transitioning from a reliance on single revenue streams to a diversified asset base and comprehensive financial services. In this article, PANews will review the latest financial performance and strategic trends of representative institutions such as Strategy, Tether, Coinbase, Robinhood, Kraken, and Riot Platforms that are either publicly listed in the crypto space or have actively disclosed their Q2 financial reports.

Overview of the financial situation of six crypto institutions in Q2 2025

Strategy: Earning tens of billions in net profit from Bitcoin, plans to continue heavy buying

In Q2, Strategy's revenue reached $14.03 billion, a substantial year-on-year increase of 7106.4%. The company expects full-year revenue to reach $34 billion and forecasts diluted earnings per share (EPS) to rise to $80.

The significant increase in quarterly revenue was almost entirely due to unrealized fair value gains from Bitcoin assets, which amounted to $14 billion, accounting for the vast majority of quarterly revenue. This marks the second quarter since Strategy adopted fair value accounting standards at the beginning of 2025. In contrast, the company's traditional software business generated only $114.5 million in revenue this quarter, accounting for about 0.8% of total revenue.

At the same time, Strategy's profitability surged in Q2, with net profit reaching $10.02 billion, a stark contrast to the net loss of $102.6 million in the same period of 2024. The company expects full-year net profit to reach $24 billion.

As of the end of July 2025, Strategy's Bitcoin holdings had increased to 628,791 coins, with an additional 88,109 coins added in Q2. The total cost of these holdings reached $46.07 billion, with an average cost of $73,277 per Bitcoin. Year-to-date, its Bitcoin yield has reached 25%, surpassing the original full-year target, which has now been raised to 30%. To further expand its Bitcoin assets, Strategy announced plans to raise $4.2 billion through the issuance of STRC perpetual preferred shares to continue increasing its Bitcoin holdings.

Coinbase: Core business weakens, investment income supports net profit

In Q2 2025, Coinbase reported total revenue of $1.497 billion, a quarter-on-quarter decline of 26%. Of this, trading revenue was $764 million, down 39% from the previous quarter; subscription and service revenue was $656 million, down 6%. Coinbase attributed the revenue decline to reduced volatility in the crypto market, adjustments to stablecoin trading pair pricing strategies, and decreased trading activity across the platform, with total trading volume for the quarter at $237 billion, down 40% quarter-on-quarter.

Coinbase's net profit for the quarter reached $1.429 billion, far exceeding the $36 million from the same period last year. This profit growth was primarily driven by a $1.5 billion gain from Circle investments and $362 million in unrealized appreciation from its crypto portfolio. However, a previous user data breach incident resulted in a loss of $308 million, pushing total operating expenses to $1.5 billion (a 15% quarter-on-quarter increase), which exerted significant pressure on net profit. After excluding strategic investments and crypto asset investment income, adjusted net income was only $33 million, indicating that its core trading business has fallen into a growth dilemma.

In response to this predicament, Coinbase is actively promoting a strategic transformation. Its VP of Product, Max Branzburg, announced the expansion of trading categories, with new products including tokenized real-world assets, stocks, derivatives, prediction markets, and early token sales, which will first launch in the U.S. and then gradually expand to international markets based on regulatory approvals. Coinbase's goal is to build a "full-service exchange" that enables on-chain trading of all assets, creating more direct competition with platforms like Robinhood, Gemini, and Kraken.

Tether: Quarterly net profit of $4.9 billion, U.S. Treasury holdings exceed $127 billion

As of Q2 2025, Tether's total assets reached $162.575 billion, surpassing its liabilities of $157.108 billion, resulting in excess reserves of $5.467 billion (slightly down from $5.6 billion in the previous quarter); the circulation of USDT exceeded $157 billion, increasing by $20 billion year-to-date.

In terms of asset composition, Tether holds over $127 billion in U.S. Treasury securities (including $105.5 billion in direct holdings and $21.3 billion in indirect holdings), an increase of about $8 billion from Q1, making it one of the world's top 18 holders of U.S. Treasuries. It also holds Bitcoin valued at $8.9 billion and precious metals (gold) worth $8.7 billion.

Tether's net profit for Q2 was approximately $4.9 billion, significantly higher than the $830 million in Q1. Year-to-date, Tether has accumulated a net profit of $5.73 billion, of which $3.1 billion is from recurring income and $2.6 billion from the market value increase of Bitcoin and gold.

Overall, Tether demonstrated strong asset growth and profitability in this quarter, with its diversified asset allocation (such as gold and Bitcoin) providing flexibility in its profit composition.

Robinhood: Revenue nearing $1 billion, crypto business drives profit doubling

As of the end of Q2 2025, Robinhood's balance sheet held $4.2 billion in cash and cash equivalents, providing ample "ammunition" for global expansion and new business ventures.

In this quarter, Robinhood achieved revenue of $989 million, a year-on-year increase of 45%; net profit reached $386 million, doubling year-on-year and setting a historical high. Adjusted EBITDA reached $549 million, with a profit margin rising to 56%. The core drivers of this growth were the strong rebound in crypto trading and options trading. Specifically, options trading revenue reached $265 million, a year-on-year increase of 46%, remaining the most critical source of income; crypto trading revenue reached $160 million, a year-on-year increase of 98%, becoming a new growth driver; while stock trading revenue also recorded $66 million, a year-on-year increase of 65%.

Robinhood also maintained strong performance in user scale and asset retention. The platform currently has 26.5 million funded accounts, a year-on-year increase of 10%; total platform assets surpassed $279 billion, nearly doubling; active investment accounts reached 27.4 million, a year-on-year increase of 10%; and high-value users (subscribing to Robinhood Gold) grew by 76%, reaching 3.5 million. Notably, the average revenue per user (ARPU) has reached $151, a year-on-year increase of 34%, reflecting the platform's enhanced ability to monetize its users.

From a strategic perspective, the most noteworthy development this quarter was Robinhood's aggressive expansion in the crypto business, including the completion of its acquisition of the established European exchange Bitstamp; obtaining over 50 crypto compliance licenses and launching crypto services in 30 European countries; launching stock token products; opening crypto staking features in the U.S.; and planning to complete the acquisition of Canadian firm WonderFi in the second half of the year. Additionally, Robinhood is gradually building its own financial supermarket, with assets under management (AUM) for its Robinhood Strategies digital advisory service reaching $500 million, retirement account assets reaching $20 billion, and Gold credit card users reaching 300,000.

Kraken: Profit halved, plans to accelerate diversification

In Q2 2025, Kraken continued to advance in multi-asset trading and global expansion, but the overall trading activity in the market slightly slowed, leading to a decline in some key metrics quarter-on-quarter.

In this quarter, Kraken reported revenue of $412 million, an 18% year-on-year increase, but a quarter-on-quarter decline from $472 million. The adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $80 million, a significant drop from $187 million in Q1. In terms of operational data, Kraken has approximately 15 million global customers, with total trading volume in Q2 at $186.8 billion, down 10.5% quarter-on-quarter, but still achieving a 19% year-on-year growth; the number of funded accounts increased to 4.4 million, a year-on-year increase of 37%; and platform custodial assets reached $43.2 billion, with a year-on-year increase of 47%.

Looking ahead, Kraken's global business will continue to accelerate, including the approval of new licenses, expansion of local funding channels, upgrades to multi-asset experiences, and the launch of innovative products such as international stocks, tokenized stocks, Kraken debit cards, and NinjaTrader development.

Notably, Kraken is seeking to raise $500 million at a valuation of $15 billion and plans to go public in 2026. Insights 4.vc analysis indicates that Kraken, with its high-quality user base and trading activity, is among the industry leaders and is continuously reducing its reliance on spot trading fees by expanding into derivatives, stock trading, payment services, and other new businesses, enhancing its resilience to market cycles. Additionally, in the context of tightening regulations, Kraken has obtained compliance licenses in multiple jurisdictions, giving it significant advantages in compliance, security, and fiat entry services. In the face of fierce competition from Binance and Coinbase, Kraken has successfully established a "second-tier" brand positioning centered on product diversity and transparent compliance. If the crypto market continues to recover in the coming year, Kraken is likely to become another stable, profitable, and compliant crypto exchange listed company after Coinbase.

Riot Platforms: Revenue doubles year-on-year, BTC production increases by 69%

In Q2 2025, Riot Platforms reported total revenue of $153 million, more than doubling from $70 million in the same period of 2024, driven primarily by its Bitcoin mining business, which contributed approximately $141 million in revenue, a year-on-year increase of over 150%. With the strengthening of Bitcoin prices and capacity expansion, the company produced 1,426 BTC during the quarter, an increase of about 69% from 844 BTC in the same period last year.

Due to the halving event in April 2024 and the continuous rise in global hash rate, Riot's average mining cost per Bitcoin (excluding depreciation) rose to $48,992, a year-on-year increase of 93%, but still significantly lower than the average Bitcoin selling price during the same period (approximately $98,800). However, if Bitcoin prices fall or mining difficulty continues to rise in the future, gross profit margins may be squeezed, making cost control and hash rate efficiency critical. According to Riot, with the rising demand for high-performance computing (HPC) and AI infrastructure, the company will continue to promote the diversified application of power resources, gradually transforming from a single Bitcoin mining company to an "infrastructure platform centered on Bitcoin, catering to future computing needs."

In terms of profit performance, Riot recorded a net profit of $219.5 million, far exceeding the negative performance of $24 million in the same period of 2024, with adjusted EBITDA reaching $495.3 million, reflecting its strong cash generation capability and high operating leverage in its core business.

Additionally, the company continues to maintain a robust balance sheet. As of the end of Q2, Riot Platforms held a total of 19,273 BTC (valued at approximately $2.1 billion) and $255.4 million in unrestricted cash, providing ample financial support for its future expansion, high-performance computing transformation, or market volatility.