Bitcoin rally to start 2023 has spurred calls of a new bull market, with the largest cryptocurrency gaining 80% to vastly outperform the stock market—where the S&P 500 is up a meager 7% by comparison—as a leading indicator of risk sentiment.
In theory, that should be great news for crypto broker Coinbase Global (ticker: COIN). The trading platform, while pushing to diversify with business lines based on subscriptions and services, still looks to its core trading operations as a critical source of revenue. That top line tends to fluctuate with Bitcoin prices, as its main customer base of U.S. retail investors tends to follow bull markets and flee the bears.