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A $25 billion valuation is the price investors put on a company’s equity in a funding round. It is not cash, not customer deposits, and not proof that customer money is safe. The figure most people mean is FTX’s October 2021 Series B, and the later criminal case against FTX shows why the number says almost nothing about custody, segregation, or honest reporting.
Where the $25 billion figure comes from
Axios reported on October 22, 2021 that FTX raised $420.69 million in a Series B financing at a $25 billion valuation. Axios is the source for these figures. The original investor documents and the method used to reach the number are not public in that reporting.
The valuation is a historical, round-specific price. It is not a current value for FTX. On January 31, 2022, Axios reported that FTX raised $400 million in a Series C at a $32 billion valuation. Sam Bankman-Fried told Axios at the time, “We’re not racing to go public.” That was an interview comment, not a commitment about the company’s future.
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What a valuation is, and what it is not
| Term | What it describes | Example in this story |
|---|---|---|
| Valuation | The price investors agree on for the company’s equity in a deal | $25 billion (Series B, Oct 2021) |
| Amount raised | New cash investors put in during the round | $420.69 million |
| Company cash | What the business itself holds on its balance sheet | Not the same as either number above |
| Customer assets | Balances an exchange holds or manages for users | Not company-owned in a properly run custodial model |
So investors did not pay $25 billion. They paid about $420 million for a stake priced as if the whole company were worth $25 billion. Private-round valuations are negotiated, depend on growth expectations, and can change quickly, as the jump to $32 billion three months later shows.
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What the number cannot tell a customer
A valuation does not show any of the following:
- whether customer deposits are segregated from company funds
- whether the company is solvent
- whether withdrawals will work in a crisis
- whether internal controls and governance function
- whether the information given to investors and users is truthful
The FTX case is the concrete example. In its March 28, 2024 sentencing announcement, the U.S. Department of Justice said Bankman-Fried was convicted of fraudulent schemes involving misappropriated customer funds and misleading information given to investors. It said claims that deposits were separate and safe were false: “Those statements were false, and BANKMAN-FRIED in fact channeled billions of dollars in customer deposits from FTX to Alameda, and then used those funds to make investments for his own benefit, to make political contributions, and to spend on real estate, among other expenditures.”
That describes FTX specifically. It is not evidence that every exchange behaves this way, and it should not be read as one.
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Reading an exchange’s real numbers: Coinbase and Gemini as examples
Public exchanges publish audited filings that separate things a headline valuation blurs together. Coinbase’s 2025 shareholder letter and Form 10-K are useful examples of the categories. They are illustrations of disclosure, not safety ratings, and not an apples-to-apples valuation comparison.
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Operating results are separate from valuation
Coinbase reported 2025 total revenue of $7.2 billion, Q4 total revenue of $1.8 billion, and a Q4 net loss of $667 million. Its letter also breaks out transaction revenue from subscription and services revenue.
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Company cash is not a customer reserve
Coinbase reported $11.3 billion in cash and cash equivalents at the end of 2025. That is the company’s own cash, not money set aside for customers.
Volume is activity, not income
Coinbase reported 2025 total trading volume of $5,234 billion. Its letter explains how that is measured, including how certain routed spot trades and derivatives notional volume are treated. Volume can be large while revenue and profit are small or negative.
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Customer assets are a different category again
Coinbase defines Assets on Platform as customer crypto assets and payment stablecoins held or managed on its platform, priced on the last day of the quarter. Its investor-relations page showed $246 billion as of June 30, 2026. Because it is priced at quarter-end, it moves with market prices, and it is not company-owned wealth. The Form 10-K separately describes recognized custodial funds and liabilities.
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Gemini’s 2025 Form 10-K counts a monthly transacting user as someone with a broad range of revenue-generating activity, including trading, custody, staking, card activity, and withdrawals. Another firm may define “active user” differently, so compare user counts only after reading each definition and date.
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A practical checklist before trusting an exchange
- Separate the categories. Identify which figure is valuation, company cash and liabilities, or customer balances.
- Prefer audited filings to headlines. Audited statements and risk disclosures carry more weight than a funding-round story or marketing copy.
- Read the custody terms. Check the customer agreement and filings for asset segregation, whether customer assets can be used by the company, and how withdrawals work.
- Look for related-party risk. Check whether affiliated trading firms receive special privileges or credit.
- Check dates and definitions. Volume, user, and assets-on-platform metrics change by period and by method.
- Do not generalize. One firm’s stated policy does not describe another’s practice, and a clean filing is a disclosure, not a guarantee.
Common misstatements to avoid
- “FTX is worth $25 billion”: it was a 2021 round price, followed by a reported $32 billion round in January 2022.
- “Investors put in $25 billion”: the reported raise was $420.69 million.
- “A high valuation means funds are safe”: nothing in the valuation tests that.
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