Bullish’s Non-Trading Revenue Overtakes Transaction Revenue as Crypto Sales Fall 44%

Bullish’s second-quarter results show why crypto platforms have to diversify from crypto: digital asset sales fell sharply, while transaction revenue contributes less than 50% to the bottom line.

Digital asset sales fell 44% year-on-year to $32.6 billion from $58.6 billion. Adjusted transaction revenue rose 24% to $29.9 million from $24.1 million, while subscription, services and other revenue reached a record $62.7 million, more than twice the transaction figure.

These figures separate three things often collapsed in crypto-exchange coverage: reported digital-asset sales, revenue earned from customer trading, and revenue generated outside the transaction business.

That distinction makes sense as other platforms report weaker crypto revenue and exchanges look for income lines less dependent on trading cycles.

Why Sales and Revenues Moved in Opposite Directions

Bullish’s digital-asset sales are a gross line reported under IFRS, the accounting standard used in its financial statements. The figure reflects the value of digital assets sold and can be influenced by crypto-market conditions, but it is not the same as trading revenue earned by the exchange.

Adjusted transaction revenue is Bullish’s non-IFRS measure for fees, spreads and related trading income from customers using the exchange. That distinction explains why digital-asset sales and transaction revenue can move in different directions.

Bullish described Q2 as a softer trading market, but did not give a single operating reason for why adjusted transaction revenue rose while digital-asset sales fell.

Non-Trading Revenue Becomes the Larger Business

Bullish’s CFO Dave Bonanno linked the result to Bullish’s broader revenue base. “Our diversified model delivered again this quarter: record subscription, services and other revenue of $62.7 million drove adjusted revenue up 62% year over year, more than offsetting a softer trading market,” he said.

Bonanno described the model as a cross-sell engine in which clients arrive through CoinDesk and Consensus and then expand across data, indices, liquidity and the exchange.

One example cited by the company was Morgan Stanley’s launch of BTC, ETH and SOL exchange-traded products using CoinDesk benchmarks, which Bullish said attracted more than $400 million in Q2 inflows.

That revenue pattern contrasts with the crypto weakness reported elsewhere in the same quarter. Finance Magnates previously reported that eToro’s cryptoasset revenue fell 30% year-over-year, while Robinhood’s cryptocurrency transaction revenue declined 38% to $100 million.

The pressure is not limited to listed retail brokers. In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Bitget Chief Executive Gracy Chen said crypto liquidity had not returned for nearly a year, and about 20% of Bitget’s average daily volume now comes from non-crypto assets, up from zero a year earlier.

Bullish does not provide a direct comparison with eToro, Robinhood or Bitget. The platforms report different metrics and operate different business models.

The common point is narrower: crypto trading conditions weakened across several venues, but the revenue impact depended on how much of each platform’s business sat outside pure transaction activity.