Morning Minute: Coinbase Wants to Be the Everything Exchange

Morning Minute is a daily newsletter written by Tyler Warner. The analysis and opinions expressed are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Decrypt. Subscribe to the Morning Minute on Substack.

GM!

Today’s top news:

• Crypto majors green as OpenAI news pumps markets; BTC at $87,900
• Trump Media stock pops 40% on merger with fusion power company
• US Senate confirms pro-crypto Michael Selig as CFTC chair
• Solana devs test quantum resistant cryptographs with Project Eleven
• Intuit and Circle partner to integrate USDC into TurboTax & Quickbooks

🔵 Coinbase Wants to Be the Everything Exchange

Coinbase is entering a new era.

And it’s bigger than crypto.

📌 What Happened

At its Wednesday night event, Coinbase unveiled a broad slate of new products as part of its push to become an “everything exchange.”

With this move, they are bringing traditional finance, crypto-native tools, and onchain infrastructure into a single platform.

Products announced on Wednesday:

• Commission-free stock and ETF trading (U.S.), allowing users to trade equities alongside crypto using USD or USDC
• Prediction markets, enabling trading on real-world outcomes like elections, sports, and economic data via a partnership with Kalshi
• Equity futures and perpetuals trading, expanding derivatives access directly inside the main Coinbase app
• Solana DEX trading via Jupiter, allowing users to swap Solana tokens directly on Coinbase
• New Borrowing functionality against BTC and ETH holdings
• Coinbase Token Sales, allowing for ICO launches and early-stage token support
• Coinbase Tokenize, an institutional platform designed to support tokenized assets, including tokenized stocks over time
• Base App global launch, making Coinbase’s onchain “everything app” available in more than 140 countries
• Coinbase Business, now generally available, offering payments, invoicing, and USDC-based tools for companies
• Expanded stablecoin and payments APIs, including embedded wallets and custom-branded stablecoins for builders
• Coinbase Advisor, an AI-powered assistant designed to help users navigate portfolios and Coinbase products

Years of products and roadmap – all announced on one night.

🗣️ What They’re Saying

“A new era of Coinbase is here.

I want us to be the #1 financial services app in the world. With our new releases like stock trading and prediction markets, our financial management tools that outperform traditional alternatives, and our crypto as a service offerings, we’re positioned to make this a reality.” – Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase

🧠 Why It Matters

Coinbase is clearly following the new “everything app” model that Robinhood and others are leaning into.

With this move, they are positioning themselves not just against crypto exchanges, but against brokerages, fintech apps, DeFi, perp DEXes, banks and prediction markets—all at once.

If it succeeds, Coinbase moves well beyond crypto and becomes a distribution layer for stocks, tokens, derivatives, and stablecoins.

Of all these products, I’m personally excited for the borrow feature, making it even easier for long-term holders to monetize their BTC and ETH positions.

The Base app launch will also be a very important one to track.

And their tokenized stock + equity perps trading will be very interesting as well.

They have a suite of enticing products now.

It’s clearer than ever—Coinbase wants to be the platform where everything trades.

🌎 Macro Crypto and Memes

A few Crypto and Web3 headlines that caught my eye:

• Crypto majors were green as the AI trade concerns calmed by OpenAI potential $100B raise; BTC +1% at $87,900; ETH +3% at $2,960; BNB +1% at $845, SOL +2% at $125
• LEO (+18%), BCH (+9%) and ZEC (+8%) led top movers
• The US Senate confirmed pro-crypto Michael Selig as CFTC Chairman
• Trump Media shares jumped after the company announced a planned $6B all-stock merger with fusion power firm TAE Technologies
• Solana developers are testing quantum-resistant cryptography within Project Eleven to prepare for future risks
• Intuit and Circle struck a multi-year deal to integrate USDC across TurboTax and QuickBooks, including potential use for tax refunds and payments (chain not disclosed)
• The European Central Bank said it’s ready to move forward with the digital euro project after completing key technical preparation work and urging the European Parliament and Council to advance legislation
• PayPal and USDAI announced a partnership to back USDAI with PYUSD for AI infra procurement
• United Stables launched U as a native stablecoin for BNB

In Corporate Treasuries / ETFs

• Bitwise filed for a SUI ETF
• Forward Industries (SOL DAT) tokenized its stock on Solana

In Memes / Onchain Movers

• Memecoin leaders are mostly green; DOGE +2%, Shiba +1%, PEPE +2%, PENGU +1%, BONK -1%, TRUMP +1%, SPX +2%, and FARTCOIN +4%
• 67 jumped another 77% to $24M leading top movers; https (+120%), FKH (+60%) and Hachi (+90%) other notable movers

💰 Token, Airdrop & Protocol Tracker

Here’s a rundown of major token, protocol and airdrop news from the day:

• MegaETH’s Frontier launched and is now open for builders for app deployment and test
• Fuse Energy announced a $70M series B for its Solana depin project

🚚 What is happening in NFTs?

Here is the list of other notable headlines from the day in NFTs:

• NFT leaders were mixed; Punks -1% at 26.6 ETH, Pudgy +2% at 4.72, BAYC -2% at 4.84 ETH; Hypurr’s -3% at 444 HYPE
• Kodas (+30%) and Moonbirds (+10%) were notable movers