💥 COIN’s Volume Explosion. GRAB Buys Stash. RAKUTEN’s Fintech Surge Hits Records

If fintech were a streaming service, today’s episode is three totally different genres that somehow binge perfectly: Coinbase (COIN) is doing “sports documentary comeback,” Grab (GRAB) is doing “global heist movie sequel,” and Rakuten (RKUNY) is doing “quiet billionaire energy” — the kind that shows up late, says nothing, and still owns the room.

Coinbase Global, Inc. (NASDAQ: COIN) just posted its shareholder letter for Q4/2025, and the headline numbers are massive. Total trading volume soared to roughly $5.2 trillion, up ~156% year-over-year, and its global crypto trading market share more than doubled, hitting ~6.4%. Subscription and services revenue also posted all-time highs — pushed by many channels beyond basic trading. Paid Coinbase One subs crossed ~1 million.

But the market’s reaction has been mixed. Despite these eye-popping operational metrics, COIN shares slipped on the day as some benchmarks (like revenue or profit expectations) didn’t fully quiet concerns about slower fee growth in a weak crypto market. Some outlets flagged slight misses vs. consensus.

From a stack culture POV? COIN’s playing the long game: it’s built a full product suite where retail wallets, prediction markets, derivatives, and even stablecoin balances (average USDC holdings soared) all knit together. That’s much closer to “financial OS” than a simple exchange — rivaling the profile of consumer fintechs that pivot from trading into everyday finance.

Think of COIN’s growth story like Netflix in the early 2010s — expand beyond DVD rentals into every corner of streaming. Coinbase is trying to be the one platform where you do all your crypto stuff — trading, earning, staking, options, and more.

Takeaway: COIN’s operation is blowing up in scale; now the challenge is convincing investors it’s profitable on the numbers and not just the usage.

Grab Holdings Ltd (GRAB) has agreed to acquire U.S. digital investing platform Stash Financial in a deal valued at about US$425 million, with ~50% at closing and the remainder over three years subject to customary adjustments. Stash will continue operating as a U.S. brand while giving Grab deeper investing tech and subscription revenue.

This is a bold pivot for Grab’s financial services roadmap — the Southeast Asian super-app has long woven payments, insurance, and lending into its ecosystem, but an outright U.S. investing platform purchase is rare for an APAC mega-app. It signals two things:

If Grab’s super-app dream is WeChat on steroids, adding U.S. investing chops is like a U.S. sports team signing an international MVP mid-season — identity and capabilities both get upgraded.

Takeaway: GRAB is betting that fiat financial behavior — savings, investing, wealth management — will stick harder than ride-hailing or food delivery.

Rakuten Group, Inc. (RKUNY) reported FY2025 results showing solid revenue growth (+~9.5% YoY) and record high consolidated EBITDA as flagship fintech businesses (credit, digital banking, payments, securities) all grew. The FinTech segment alone logged nearly ¥975.9 billion (~$6.7 billion) in revenue, up ~19% YoY, with non-GAAP operating income climbing ~30%.

Rakuten’s ecosystem — from Rakuten Card shopping GTV↑ and Rakuten Securities assets under administration↑ to Rakuten Bank account growth ↑ — shows that embedded finance and digital banking can scale robustly in Asia. Meanwhile, the Mobile division finally achieved full-year EBITDA profitability, eliminating a long-time drag on overall results.

From a fintech culture lens? Rakuten’s transformation from marketplace into a cross-border embedded finance engine mirrors how fintechs outside the U.S. are growing: many of the most scaled incumbents aren’t “fintech only” players but deep ecosystem integrators. Rakuten’s results illustrate how payments ↔ bank ↔ credit ↔ securities functions are becoming stitched together in large digital ecosystems.

Takeaway: Rakuten’s financial services growth underscores that embedded finance layer playbooks work outside the West, with super-apps and e-commerce ecosystems turning into actual financial rails.

Disclaimer: This content is for information and entertainment only and is not investment advice. I may or may not hold positions in some of the companies mentioned. Assume I at least own a fintech hoodie and a bunch of debit cards.