America’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase reportedly made $1 billion in revenue in 2017, overshooting its 2017 revenue forecast of $600 mln by 66 percent, Recode reports, citing “industry sources.” According to Recode, despite the peaked interest of outside investors, the company remains private and does not allow stock to be traded on secondary markets.

The platform was swamped by an influx of new users looking to set up trading accounts as Bitcoin entered a massive bull run in November, 2017. Following the announcement of Bitcoin futures launch early that month on CME, Coinbase saw 100,000 new users sign up in just 24 hours.

Although Bitcoin’s long bull run ended in the week leading up to Christmas, its rise to an all time high of $20,000 in mid-December saw Coinbase make massive revenues through trades on its platform.

The cryptocurrency exchange makes revenue by charging fees for fiat to crypto conversions via its Buy/Sell feature and for trades on its GDAX exchange.

Investors clawing for stake in Coinbase

The success of Coinbase has not gone unnoticed by investors and venture capitalists. According to Recode’s report, shares in the company are being sought out on a number of fronts.

However, Coinbase shareholders have been told not to sell their shares to outside parties. Doing so would constitute a breach of policy, Coinbase told Recode in a statement:

"As a private company, Coinbase does not allow trading of stock on secondary markets for a variety of reasons, including the fact that there is not full and equal information available to the market. We will take appropriate action if we find people have sold Coinbase shares in violation of our agreements not to do so."

In August 2017, Coinbase raised $100 mln in a series D funding run aimed at increasing its engineering and customer service teams as well as opening a new GDAX office in New York. Investors that missed out on the latest fundraising series are trying their best to entice current shareholders to part ways with lucrative shares, Recode reported.

By December, Coinbase had over 13 million users -- more than mainstream brokerage firm Charles Schwab.

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