Coinbase has vaulted past $600 million in on-chain lending as of mid-August 2025, even as its crypto exchange faces a decline in global market share.
Key Takeaways
- Coinbase’s on-chain lending activity reached over $600M, fueled by rising borrower demand from both retailers and institutions.
- This growth in DeFi lending highlights Coinbase’s strategic shift toward blockchain-based liquidity offerings, despite pressure on its global exchange dominance.
- Coinbase Global (COIN) stock trades at $317.55, down 2.3% intraday, with a neutral RSI ~40.7 indicating balanced momentum.
A report from Coindoo states that Coinbase broke past the $600M mark in on-chain lending mid-August 2025. The surge underscores DeFi lending’s growing acceptance in mainstream finance, despite the U.S.-based exchange facing pressure on its global market share. Daily lending originations that began the year under $100M have accelerated sharply, signaling growing demand for crypto-backed loans.
Max Branzburg, product head of Coinbase, emphasized the firm’s movement toward the “future of finance as on-chain,” a sentiment echoed by CEO Brian Armstrong, who highlighted Coinbase’s pivot away from pure trading execution toward embedded DeFi functionality.
Photo: Coinbase’s on-chain lending breakthrough represented in a graph.
Analysts Focus on Coinbase’s Shift Towards DeFi
Analysts and industry observers highlight that Coinbase’s pivot toward on-chain lending reflects a broader trend of traditional crypto exchange platforms deepening integration with smart contract–based services. This positions Coinbase to capitalize on emerging yield-generating models and diversify away from fee-dependent revenue streams.
Price & Market Impact
As of writing (8:30 AM UTC), Coinbase Global (COIN) stock trades at $317.55 with around 2.26% decrease over the past 24 hours, with an intraday trading range of $314.88 to $327.63. Meawhile, the 14-day Relative Strength Index (RSI) registers at 40.74, indicating neither overbought nor oversold conditions but rather neutral momentum, according to the latest RSI data of GuruFocus.
This slight dip may partly reflect investor caution, as the broader crypto market navigates regulatory headwinds and shifting sentiment. Despite the pullback, the growth in on-chain lending signals investor optimism about Coinbase’s strategic direction and relevance in the evolving DeFi ecosystem.
Global Market Share Continues to Decline
According to CoinGecko, Coinbase ranked ninth globally in July 2025 with $101.7B in trading volume. Its market share slipped to 5.8%, down from 7% earlier in the year.
Photo: CoinGecko’s Top 10 Centralized Exchanges’ Market Share (July 2025).
Coinbase’s lending growth comes as its exchange dominance contracts, underscoring how crypto investment infrastructure is tilting toward decentralized liquidity pipelines.
What’s Next
Crossing the $600M on-chain lending threshold is a pivotal milestone for Coinbase, reinforcing its strategic evolution beyond centralized exchange trading. Sustained growth in DeFi-style lending could buffer declining trading share and reshape COIN’s revenue model.
The coming months will be crucial: if lending momentum persists, it could bolster investor confidence and repricing of COIN stock; stagnation, however, may expose vulnerabilities in Coinbase’s diversification strategy.
Summary
Coinbase’s on-chain lending has surpassed $600M, marking a major strategic pivot as the exchange leans into DeFi integration while facing a decline in global trading market share. The growth highlights rising borrower demand across retail and institutional channels and reflects Coinbase’s ambition to embed decentralized lending into its core offerings.
While COIN stock softened to $317.55 with neutral RSI, the lending milestone underscores resilience in Coinbase’s evolving business model. Sustaining momentum in lending could offset volume declines, positioning Coinbase to capture structural upside in the broader shift from centralized trading toward decentralized liquidity infrastructure.
