Robinhood vs Kraken vs Coinbase
Jan-Erik Asplund
TL;DR: As crypto exchanges and traditional brokerages converge, Robinhood, Coinbase, and Kraken are racing to become tradfi-crypto hybrid super apps. For more, check out our full report on Kraken (dataset).
Key points via Sacra AI:
- Since adding crypto trading in 2018, meme stock app Robinhood (launched 2015) has become the Millennial & Gen Z investing super app that leads on total trading volume at $727B (Q3'2025) vs. Kraken at $577B in trading volume and Coinbase at $295B, generating ~$5B in annualized revenue distributed across options (23%), crypto (21%), stock trading (7%), prediction markets (6%), net interest income (36%), and subscriptions (7%) compared to Coinbase and Kraken which remain ~98% crypto transaction revenue. At 26.8M funded accounts, Robinhood leverages its engagement base to cross-sell across asset classes, growing crypto revenue to $268M in Q3'25 (up 300% YoY)—8x larger than Cash App ($4.5B)—while putting fee compression pressure on crypto-native competitors with its 0.18% blended take rate versus Coinbase's 0.60%.
- Historically #2 to Coinbase by crypto transaction revenue in the U.S., Kraken has taken the lead in combining tradfi into its crypto exchange for its customer base of professional traders with its launch of commission-free stock trading (April 2025, powered by Alpaca Markets), options & futures (July 2025, via acquiring NinjaTrader), and tokenized equities with xStocks (December 2025, via acquiring Backed Finance), working toward its vision of using crypto exchange liquidity & rails to power 24/7, always-on, global trading of everything. To build the regulated infrastructure required for derivatives & tokenized equities, Kraken has made tradfi acquisitions like NinjaTrader ($1.5B, CFTC futures license) & Small Exchange ($100M, CFTC derivatives exchange) while Robinhood has made crypto acquisitions like Bitstamp ($200M, global institutional crypto), WonderFi ($179M, Canadian exchanges), and Ziglu ($68M, UK payments), with both converging on the same financial super app vision from opposite starting points.
- Only recently entering tradfi with stock trading in December 2025 (eight months after Kraken), Coinbase (founded 2012) is playing catch up on building the investing super app, with plans to launch stock trading, prediction markets (via Kalshi), and tokenized stocks in 2026. For long the most trusted venue for buying & HODL'ing bitcoin and other crypto assets, Coinbase is being forced to transition from a high-margin, passive investing app (0.60% take rate) into a lower-margin, high-frequency trading app as Robinhood's 0.18% blended take rate puts fee compression pressure on the entire industry.
For more, check out this other research from our platform:
- Kraken (dataset)
- Arjun Sethi, co-CEO of Kraken, on building the Nasdaq of crypto
- David Ripley, COO of Kraken, on the future of cryptocurrency exchanges
- $2.5B/year Robinhood for professional traders
- Kraken at $1.5B up 128% YoY
- Binance
- Gemini (dataset)
- Gemini at $69M/year
- Hyperliquid
- Chainalysis at $190M ARR
- eToro vs Robinhood
- Alpaca at $60M/year growing 150% YoY
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