Coinbase’s Iron Grip Slips: Market Share Plummets Amid Record Trading Frenzy
Wall Street's favorite crypto playground is losing its monopoly—just as the bulls come charging back.
Volume soars, dominance sinks
While Coinbase racks up record transactions, hungry rivals are feasting on its lunch. The OG exchange now faces an existential question: adapt or become the next MySpace of digital assets.
Regulatory headwinds meet DeFi defiance
As the SEC plays whack-a-mole with crypto regulation, decentralized platforms are eating centralized exchanges' margins. Coinbase's compliance-first approach suddenly looks less like armor—and more like dead weight.
The institutional exodus
Whales are voting with their wallets. While retail traders keep Coinbase's lights on, big money's flirting with slicker platforms offering lower fees and—irony alert—better 'consumer protections'.
Wake-up call or death knell?
One thing's clear: in crypto's ruthless Darwinian ecosystem, even giants can't coast on brand recognition alone. Maybe they should've spent less on Super Bowl ads and more on infrastructure. Just saying.
Big Volume, Shrinking Power
According to the latest report by CoinGecko, this decline positions Coinbase as the ninth-largest exchange globally. Trading volumes in July climbed to $101.7 billion, reflecting an increase from June but not enough to offset its shrinking market share.
Despite its early-year strength and the broader adoption of digital assets, the crypto exchange has struggled to maintain its leading position amid growing competition from both domestic and international exchanges, as challenges in retaining users and trading activity grow.
CoinGecko revealed that trading activity on seven of the top 10 crypto exchanges declined in Q2 2025. Six of them were found to have recorded double-digit losses. Crypto.com led the decline with over a 61% drop in volume from $560.2 billion in Q1 to $216.4 billion. Combined trading volumes across the top 10 exchanges fell by 27.7%, a $1.5 trillion decrease, which left total volumes at $3.9 trillion for the quarter.
Binance Outpaces Rivals
Binance continued to dominate centralized exchanges in July 2025, as it captured almost 40% of total spot trading volume. Its trading volume jumped 61.4% month-on-month to $698.3 billion, boosted by strong crypto market momentum and Bitcoin reaching record highs.
For Q2, Binance held a 38% market share among the top 10 exchanges and generated $1.47 trillion in trading volume. However, the exchange’s activity remained down 21.6% compared to Q1, which logged $2.0 trillion.
Meanwhile, MEXC secured the second spot among centralized exchanges for the month, as it recorded $150.4 billion in spot trading volume and an 8.6% market share. Volume surged 61.8% from June’s $93.0 billion – its second-best monthly performance after May’s $163.1 billion.
Across Q2, MEXC processed $346.2 billion in volume, up from $334.0 billion in the previous quarter. The exchange climbed from eighth place in Q1 to second by July.
