Coinbase hikes some crypto trading fees in boon to biggest clients

The Coinbase application on a smartphone arranged in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, U.S., on Monday, Jan. 4, 2021. Coinbase Inc. knew cryptocurrency XRP was a security rather than a commodity and "illegally" sold Ripple Labs Inc.'s tokens anyway, a customer argues in a proposed class-action lawsuit over the commissions the crypto exchange collected. Photographer: Tiffany Hagler-Geard/Bloomberg

Coinbase Global Inc., the biggest U.S. crypto exchange, is changing its fee structure in a move that may increase costs for some users while lowering them for some of its highest-volume customers.

Starting Tuesday, some Coinbase customers with $15 million to $250 million in monthly volume may end up paying fees that are as much as 2 basis points higher than under the current schedule, according to the new fee structure, which is based on trailing 30-day activity. Customers in other tiers - including large clients with volume of more than $250 million a month - may see slightly lower fees.

Coinbase said in a statement that it made the shifts “to account for changes in global crypto trading volumes and asset prices.” A spokesperson couldn’t immediately be reached for further comment.

Coinbase has long charged smaller-volume retail users much higher fees than its institutional clients, which it likely hoped would also use the platform for other services, such as custody and staking. Even with the new schedule, these higher-volume clients are enjoying much lower fees than retail investors.

The crypto market is suffering through a downturn that has shaved off some $2 trillion in market value in less than a year, and dramatically slashed volume on many exchanges. Coinbase has already lost some market share to the likes of Binance, the world’s biggest crypto exchange, which has slashed fees to zero on a slew of trading pairs. Analysts have long worried that trading fees are in a race to zero.