Feb 16 Reuters Coinbase Global shares jumped closer to a twoyear high on Friday after the crypto exchange posted its first quarterly profit since 2021, benefiting from a trading volume surge in the runup to the approval of spot bitcoin exchange traded funds ETFs.

The stock rallied 14 to 189.28 and added more than 5 billion to the company39;s market value.

Trading fees for Coinbase improved as investor interest in popular crypto tokens such as bitcoin rose since the second half of 2023 in anticipation of an approval for spot bitcoin ETFs.

The company also quashed worries about the ETFs cannibalizing its fees in response to some analysts warning that users may shift to lowcost ETFs instead of holding the assets directly.

While we believe that the bitcoin ETFs could take some trading volumes away from Coinbase, their injection into the market, driving higher overall spot prices and trading volumes provide momentum to Coinbase39;s business, analysts at Canaccord Genuity wrote in a note.

Even after the approval of the ETFs last month, Coinbase has generated transaction revenue of 320 million in the first quarter as of Feb. 13, more than 60 of what analysts are expecting for the entire threemonth period.

JPMorgan analysts, however, said a potential loss of trading volume was still possible for Coinbase.

Considering Coinbase39;s direct participation and monetization efforts, we were hoping management would have provided more robust insight into the economics of the…