Encryption Financial Report Season: Analysis of Six Institutions' Performance in Q2 2025

The encryption industry welcomes the second quarter earnings season of 2025, with several well-known institutions presenting their distinctive "mid-term reports". Some institutions have achieved soaring profits by relying on skyrocketing valuations of their book assets, while others are seeking transformation paths amid a slowdown in core business. Overall, the industry is gradually shifting from reliance on single income sources to a transformation towards diversified assets and comprehensive financial services. This article will outline the latest financial performance and strategic directions of several representative institutions.

Strategy: Bitcoin assets contribute huge profits, continue to increase investment

Strategy's revenue in the second quarter reached $14.03 billion, a significant year-on-year increase of 7106.4%. It is expected that the annual revenue will reach $34 billion, with the annual diluted earnings per share ( EPS ) rising to $80.

The significant growth in quarterly revenue mainly came from the unrealized fair value gains of Bitcoin assets, reaching $14 billion, accounting for the majority of quarterly revenue. This is the company's second quarter since adopting fair value accounting standards in early 2025. In contrast, the company's traditional core software business generated only $11.45 million in revenue this quarter, accounting for approximately 0.8% of total revenue.

Strategy's net profit for the second quarter reached $10.02 billion, in stark contrast to a net loss of $102.6 million during the same period in 2024. It is expected that the net profit for the entire year of 2025 will reach $24 billion.

As of the end of July, Strategy's Bitcoin holdings have increased to 628,791 coins, with an addition of 88,109 coins in the second quarter. The total cost of the holdings has reached 46.07 billion dollars, with an average cost of 73,277 dollars per Bitcoin. The year-to-date Bitcoin return has reached 25%, having completed the originally set annual target ahead of schedule, and the target has been raised to 30%. To further expand Bitcoin assets, Strategy also announced it will raise 4.2 billion dollars through the issuance of STRC perpetual preferred shares to continue increasing its Bitcoin holdings.

Coinbase: Core business weakness, investment income supports profit

In Q2 2025, Coinbase's total revenue was $1.497 billion, a decrease of 26% quarter-over-quarter. Among this, trading revenue was $764 million, down 39% quarter-over-quarter; subscription and services revenue was $656 million, down 6% quarter-over-quarter. The decline in revenue was mainly due to reduced volatility in the encryption market, adjustments to pricing strategies for stablecoin trading pairs, and a decrease in platform trading activity, with a total trading volume of $237 billion, down 40% quarter-over-quarter.

Coinbase's net profit for this quarter is $1.429 billion, far exceeding the $36 million in the same period last year. The profit growth is mainly attributed to a $1.5 billion gain from certain investments, as well as an unrealized appreciation of $362 million from the encryption investment portfolio. However, a previous user data leak incident resulted in a loss of $308 million, driving total operating expenses to $1.5 billion, representing a 15% quarter-over-quarter increase, which puts pressure on net profit. After excluding strategic investments and gains from encryption asset investments, the adjusted net income is only $33 million, indicating challenges in the growth of core trading business.

In the face of challenges, Coinbase is actively promoting strategic transformation, expanding the types of trades, with new products including tokenized real-world assets, stocks, derivatives, prediction markets, and early token sales, which will first launch in the United States and then gradually expand to international markets. Coinbase aims to create an "all-in-one exchange" to achieve on-chain trading of all assets, forming more direct competition with other platforms.

Tether: Quarterly net profit of 4.9 billion USD, US treasury holdings exceed 127 billion USD

As of Q2 2025, Tether's total assets reached $162.575 billion, exceeding liabilities of $157.108 billion, achieving an excess reserve of $5.467 billion, slightly down from $5.6 billion in the previous quarter; the circulation of USDT surpassed $157 billion, with an increase of $20 billion from the beginning of the year.

In terms of asset composition, the U.S. Treasury bonds held exceed 127 billion dollars, with 105.5 billion dollars held directly and 21.3 billion dollars held indirectly, an increase of approximately 8 billion dollars compared to the first quarter, ranking as the 18th largest entity holding U.S. Treasury bonds globally. Additionally, it holds Bitcoin valued at 8.9 billion dollars and precious metals valued at 8.7 billion dollars, including gold.

Tether's net profit for the second quarter was approximately $4.9 billion, significantly higher than the $830 million in the first quarter. Year-to-date cumulative net profit is $5.73 billion, of which $3.1 billion is from recurring revenue and $2.6 billion comes from the increase in the market value of Bitcoin and gold.

Overall, Tether has demonstrated strong asset growth capabilities and profitability this season, with diversified asset allocation also providing flexibility for profit composition.

Robinhood: Revenue Approaches $1 Billion, Encryption Business Doubles Profit

As of the end of Q2 2025, Robinhood's balance sheet holds $4.2 billion in cash and cash equivalents, providing ample "ammunition" for global expansion and testing new business ventures.

In this quarter, Robinhood's revenue reached $989 million, a year-on-year increase of 45%; net profit was $386 million, doubling to a new high. Adjusted EBITDA reached $549 million, with a profit margin rising to 56%. The core growth engines are the strong rebound in encryption trading and options trading. Options trading revenue was $265 million, up 46% year-on-year, still the most core source of income; encryption trading revenue was $160 million, up 98% year-on-year, becoming a new growth driver; stock trading revenue was $66 million, up 65% year-on-year.

The user base and asset accumulation remain strong. The number of platform funding accounts is 26.5 million, a year-on-year increase of 10%; total platform assets have exceeded 279 billion USD, nearly doubling; active investment accounts have reached 27.4 million, a year-on-year increase of 10%; high-value users ( subscribing to Robinhood Gold ) increased by 76%, reaching 3.5 million. Each user brings an average revenue ( ARPU ) of 151 USD, a year-on-year increase of 34%, reflecting the platform's continued enhancement in user monetization capability.

At the strategic level, Robinhood is making bold moves in the encryption business, including completing the acquisition of a certain European exchange; obtaining over 50 encryption compliance licenses and launching encryption services in 30 European countries; launching stock token products; opening encryption staking functions in the United States; and planning to complete the acquisition of a certain Canadian company in the second half of the year. In addition, it is gradually building a financial supermarket, such as digital advisory services with AUM reaching $500 million, retirement account assets totaling $20 billion, and credit card users reaching 300,000.

Kraken: Profit Halved, Accelerating Diversification Layout

In Q2 2025, Kraken continues to advance in multi-asset trading and global expansion, but the overall trading activity in the market has slightly decreased, leading to a month-on-month decline in some key indicators.

This quarter, Kraken's revenue was $412 million, an increase of 18% year-on-year, but a decrease from $472 million in the previous quarter. The adjusted EBITDA was $80 million, a significant drop compared to $187 million in Q1. In terms of operational data, there are approximately 15 million global customers, with a total trading volume of $186.8 billion in Q2, a decrease of 10.5% quarter-on-quarter and an increase of 19% year-on-year; the number of funded accounts increased to 4.4 million, up 37% year-on-year; and the platform's custody assets reached $43.2 billion, an increase of 47% year-on-year.

Kraken's global operations will continue to accelerate, including the approval of new licenses, the expansion of local funding channels, upgrades to multi-asset experiences, and the launch of innovative products, such as international stocks, tokenized stocks, debit cards, and the development of certain platforms.

It is worth noting that Kraken is seeking to raise $500 million at a valuation of $15 billion and plans to go public in 2026. Industry analysts believe that Kraken's user quality and trading activity are among the best in the industry, continuously reducing its reliance on spot transaction fees by expanding into new businesses such as derivatives, stock trading, and payment services, thereby enhancing its risk resilience. Against the backdrop of tightening regulations, it has obtained compliance licenses in multiple regions, demonstrating significant advantages in compliance, security, and fiat entry services. In the face of fierce competition, Kraken has established a "second-tier" brand positioning centered on product diversity and transparent compliance. If the encryption market continues to recover in the coming year, Kraken is expected to become another profitable, stable, and compliant cryptocurrency exchange listed company.

Riot Platforms: Revenue doubled year-on-year, BTC production increased by 69% year-on-year

In Q2 2025, Riot Platforms' total revenue was $153 million, more than double the $70 million from the same period in 2024, primarily driven by its bitcoin mining business, which contributed approximately $141 million in revenue, an increase of over 150% year-on-year. With the rise in bitcoin prices and capacity expansion, a total of 1,426 BTC were produced during the quarter, an increase of about 69% compared to 844 BTC in the same period last year.

Due to the impact of the halving event in April 2024 and the continuous rise in global computing power, Riot's average mining cost per Bitcoin, excluding depreciation, has risen to $48,992, a year-on-year increase of 93%, but still significantly lower than the average Bitcoin selling price of about $98,800 during the same period. If the Bitcoin price falls back in the future or mining difficulty continues to rise, gross profit margins may be squeezed, making cost control and computing efficiency crucial. According to Riot, with the increasing demand for high-performance computing (HPC) and AI infrastructure, it will continue to promote the diversified application of electricity resources, gradually transforming from a single Bitcoin mining company into an "infrastructure platform centered on Bitcoin and oriented towards future computing power demand."

In terms of profit, Riot's net profit is $219.5 million, far exceeding the negative performance in the same period of 2024, and the adjusted EBITDA reached $495.3 million, reflecting the strong cash generation ability and high operating leverage of its core business.

In addition, the company maintains a strong balance sheet. As of the end of Q2, Riot held a total of 19,273 BTC( worth approximately $2.1 billion), as well as $255.4 million in unrestricted cash, providing ample funding for future expansion, high-performance computing transformation, or to cope with market fluctuations.