Coinbase (COIN) sold 12,652 ether ($25 million at the current price) in the fourth quarter, when it was valued about double the level now, according to Geoffrey Kendrick, the global head of digital assets research at Standard Chartered Bank.

In a note, Kendrick said he analyzed the crypto exchange’s quarterly filings, which show it holds ether (ETH) under different categories, including investment and operational purposes. He estimates that about 80% of revenue generated by Base, Coinbase’s Ethereum layer-2 blockchain, is profit.

Notably, the timing of the company’s trades aligns with price movements, he said. Coinbase net bought in the third quarter, when ETH was trading at around $2,500, and net sold in the fourth, when the second-largest cryptocurrency reached $4,000. It’s now about $2,000.

“The fact that they net bought in Q3 (when prices were low on average) and net sold in Q4 (higher average prices) tells me Coinbase acts like any risk-adjusting profit maximiser would do,” Kendrick wrote.

Coinbase said it sold some ether to fund operations, without saying how much was involved.

«Base earns ETH from sequencer fees, and the ETH we earn is primarily held for long term investment or used for operational expenses, including tax liabilities and reinvesting in growth via things like salaries, grants, acquisitions, and public goods funding,» a spokesperson said in an email.

According to Kendrick’s calculations, over the past three quarters, net ETH sales totaled 1,558, implying a pattern of strategic selling rather than accumulation. He reached his conclusion by subtracting Base’s profits in ETH from changes in Coinbase’s ETH holdings.

The spokesperson reiterated that the company doesn’t generally take part in trading activities.

“As shared in our 10K: ‘Crypto assets held for investment are primarily held long term … we do not engage in regular trading of these assets but may lend them through Prime Financing or stake them.’ Our ETH held for investment grew 20% over the course of 2024,» the spokesperson said.

This isn’t the first time Coinbase has had to respond to suggestions it is selling the ether generated by Base. Last month a member of Base rejected speculation surrounding potential ETH sales saying the exchange had “accumulated $300M+ in ETH, which is more than 2x all of Base’s ETH earnings over time.”

Bitcoin (BTC) inched toward $86,000 while XRP jumped 10% to lead gains among majors as crypto markets staged a broader recovery in the past 24 hours.

BTC rose in early Asian hours on Thursday following the Wednesday Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, where the Fed kept rates intact but lowered growth outlooks until 2027.

Ether (ETH) remained muted after a sudden 7% jump late Wednesday, ending the day up 3.%. Solana’s SOL, dogecoin (DOGE), and BNB Chain’s BNB showed gains under 6%, while Uniswap’s UNI surged 8% as token holders passed a $165 million foundation funding proposal.

XRP jumped as high as 12% before paring gains, as closely-related Ripple Labs ended its long-standing battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), stating Wednesday that the case had “come to an end.”

The asset got a further boost in the U.S. as Bitnomial said it would launch futures tied to the token for local investors from Thursday in a first for the region.

President Donald Trump, meanwhile, said the Fed should cut interest rates with the U.S. reciprocal tariffs coming into play starting April 1. Separately, his national economic adviser, Kevin Hassett, said he anticipated a 2.5% growth rate against the Fed’s 1.7% expectation.

“The Fed would be MUCH better off CUTTING RATES as U.S.Tariffs start to transition (ease!) their way into the economy,” Trump said in a Truth Social post. “Do the right thing. April 2nd is Liberation Day in America!!!”

As such, traders remain cautious of a continual rally and noted current market action could be a relief bounce.

“The rally is probably a function of a relief bounce as markets steady back after 5 weeks of consecutive equity sell-offs, and traders awaiting more hard data releases to draw a firmer conclusion on the current economic trajectory,” Augustine Fan, head of insights at SignalPlus, told CoinDesk in a Telegram message.

Jeff Mei, COO at BTSE, mirrored the sentiment in an email to CoinDesk: “Overall market sentiment has been so weak these past few weeks that even Powell’s relatively neutral speech and merely the lack of negative comments caused crypto prices to rally.”

“Additionally, there haven’t been any new tariff announcements to shock the market. That being said, things could change very quickly and we’re advising all of our clients to stay observant and vigilant through the next few weeks and months as we move through stages of volatility,” Mei ended.

Bitcoin (BTC) punters are looking at topside options bets in a bullish shift in price expectations after the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) meeting, but ether (ETH) continues to lag sentiment.

As of writing, BTC’s short-term and long-term risk reversals, which show the implied volatility premium (demand) for bullish bets or calls versus puts, were positive, implying investor interest in chasing price gains in the leading cryptocurrency, per data source Amberdata.

It marks a shift from the bearish sentiment that prevailed weeks before the Fed meeting when short and near-dated puts were pricier than calls, reflecting downside fears.

«Frontend skew flipped calls. Flows featured 21 Mar outright calls and calendars bought, while 28 Mar puts were sold,» institution-focused over-the-counter tech platform Paradigm noted in the Telegram chat. Institutions and large traders execute block trades via OTC platforms like Paradigm, which are then listed on Deribit.

Options are derivative contracts that give the purchaser the right but not the obligation to purchase or sell the underlying asset at a predetermined price at a later date. A call option gives the right to buy, and a put option gives the right to sell.

The bullish shift in the short and near-dated options happened as the Federal Reserve (Fed) retained the forecast for two rate cuts this year despite making the expected stagflationary adjustment in economic forecasts. The bank said it will slow the pace of balance sheet run off from April.

More importantly, Chairman Jerome Powell downplayed fears about the inflationary impact of Trump’s tariffs, calling it transitory.

Additionally, the end of the prolonged legal tussle between the SEC and Ripple, which uses XRP for cross border transactions, likely aided the sentiment. XRP, with the market cap of $142.21 billion, is the world’s fourth largest cryptocurrency.

Ether puts remain pricier

These positive developments, however, are yet to translate into a positive flip in the short and near-dated ether options.

At press time, ether risk reversals showed a bias for puts out to the May expiry, retaining the pre-Fed cautious sentiment despite the looming Ethereum Pectra upgrade.

The technological update will introduce smart accounts to ethereum, blob scaling and validator UX enhancements and seen as a game changer by many. Ethereum developers launched a new test network, Hoodi, this week to carry out the impending upgrade, expected to take effect on March 26.

Note that the persistent bias for ether puts could be partly driven by traders looking to hedge downside risks in other altcoins. Ether is widely seen as the altcoin leader.