Upbit vs Coinbase Comparisons

[1Q22 Financial Statements Comparisons]

For our latest from the CEX financials series, below are the 1Q22 comparisons between Upbit and Coinbase, the biggest exchanges in Korea and the US respectively.

Please see our previous posts:
1) At-a-glance: Upbit Q1 2022 Income Statement Highlights
2) At-a-glance: Upbit Q1 2022 Balance Sheet Highlights

A. Comparison of Top-Line and OP

B. Coinbase Revenue Breakdown

> Currently, none of the Korean CEX are active in this area due to external pressure (i.e. “how can you be a validator + list it on your own exchange + sell it there” narrative).

C. Coinbase Trading Volume/Revenue Breakdown

> Most Korean CEX do not report customers’ cash and/or digital assets as their assets on the balance sheet; Upbit reports customers’ cash deposit in the liabilities section (approximately $4.45bn in 1Q22); Upbit was the only CEX in Korea earning an annual 0.1% interest income from this area whereas all other CEX didn’t earn a single dime as interest income (this was a hot potato in Korea so we do expect changes later on); Anyhow Coinbase reports this as assets and is earning interest from it as well.

> Excluding fiat from the $246bn mentioned above, 42% * $246bn = $103.3bn / BTC price at the end of March was $45,528 / $103.3bn over $45,528 = 2.269mn BTCs

>> If we do the same for ETH we arrive at 17.981mn ETHs

>>> So Coinbase approximately held on to 2.269mn BTCs and 17.981mn ETHs on behalf of its customers!

Now that we have briefly gone over Korea’s largest CEX and US’ largest CEX numbers, let’s juggle around for a simple valuation comparison. Coinbase is listed and actively traded on NASDAQ whereas Upbit has yet to be listed. We will use Coinbase as a proxy for what info is publicly available for Upbit.

* Recent consensus revenue estimates (from Bloomberg) are at around $5bn (-36% YoY) so the above numbers are a little more conservative.

> Both companies are subject to huge fluctuations (just like the crypto market prices) especially if you take into account Coinbase stock price has declined 72% vs beg of this yr while Upbit was valued at around KRW 20tn last November when Hybe (Korean pop band BTS’ agency) acquired 2.5% stake in Dunamu.

Please stay tuned for more Korean CEX numbers in the coming weeks!

Written by Eric Yoo, Co-Founder at Trinito, and contributions from SungPil Huh, Head of Investment at Trinito.

#Upbit #Coinbase #POS #CEX #Bithumb #BTC #ETH #digitalassets
#crypto #NASDAQ #Dunamu #Hybe #BTS

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