Robinhood vs Coinbase — Technology and Development Spending

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This page covers the comparison of technology and development spending between Robinhood Markets and Coinbase Global.

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For other statistics of Robinhood and Coinbase, you may find more information on these pages: Robinhood key stats and Coinbase key stats.

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Definitions

To help readers understand the content better, the following terms and glossaries have been provided.

Technology and Development Spending:

Robinhood’s technology and development costs primarily consist of costs related to compensation and benefits, for engineering, data science, and design personnel, as well as allocated overhead, costs incurred to support and improve our platforms and develop new products, and costs associated with computer hardware and software, including amortization of internally developed software.

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Insight & Summary of Technology and Development Spending Comparison between Robinhood and Coinbase

Robinhood and Coinbase have each scaled technology spending roughly nine times since 2019. Revenue grew faster at both, so technology takes a smaller share of revenue today than at the start of the period. The difference lies in how each company flexed that spend through the 2021–2022 peak and trough, and in where the two ratios stand now.

• Operating Leverage: Revenue Outgrew Technology at Both Revenue expanded roughly 14 to 16 times against about nine times for technology spend. That pulled the revenue ratio from the mid-to-high 30s down to between 20% and 25%. Coinbase’s higher dollar spend over the last three years broadly mirrors its larger revenue base. The three-year average ratios are close, at 30.3% for Robinhood and 31.0% for Coinbase, so reinvestment intensity is similar overall.

• Cycle Response: Robinhood Adjusted Within the Year, Coinbase With a Lag In 2022, Robinhood cut technology spend by 29% as revenue fell 25%, and trimmed a further 8% in 2023. That limited how long its ratio stayed elevated, and the elevation itself dates from the 2021 build-out (68.0%). Coinbase raised spend by 80% in 2022 while revenue dropped 57%. This pushed its ratio to the period high of 73.9% before a 43% cut in 2023 brought it back. Coinbase’s spend was therefore pro-cyclical with a one-year delay.

• Cost-Base Share: Robinhood Rising, Coinbase Normalizing At Robinhood, technology’s share of operating expenses stepped up from the low-to-mid 20s before 2021 to a 33.5%–43.1% band since.

  • 2024 peak: the rest of the cost base contracted by about a third while technology spend held flat.
  • 2025 easing: the share fell to 37.7% as other costs rebounded by 37%.

  Coinbase’s share peaked near 40% in 2022–2023 and has returned to 29.1%, below its 2019–2020 level. Other operating costs grew 46% in 2025 against 14% for technology. The three-year average share is higher at Robinhood (38.1%) than at Coinbase (34.7%), consistent with a relatively leaner non-technology cost base at Robinhood.

• 2025 Divergence: Leverage Versus Reinvestment Robinhood’s revenue grew 52% against 10% growth in technology spend, taking its ratio to the period low of 20.1%. Coinbase’s revenue grew 9% while technology spend grew 14%. That lifted its ratio from 23.3% to 24.3%, the first increase since 2022. The two ratios, which converged during the downturn, have begun to separate again.

• Structural Takeaway: Structurally, technology behaves as a semi-fixed investment at both companies. It was scaled in the 2021 up-cycle, cut once revenue fell, and rebuilt at a measured pace since. Robinhood has shown the more flexible response and stronger operating leverage. Coinbase carries more exposure to the revenue cycle because its spend adjusts later.

  Two trends are changing. Coinbase’s ratio compression has ended, with spend growth now ahead of revenue growth. Robinhood’s technology spend is re-accelerating, from 2% growth in 2024 to 10% in 2025. Robinhood’s ratio is therefore likely to flatten near current levels rather than keep falling at the recent pace, provided revenue growth moderates. Coinbase’s ratio is likely to hold in the mid-20s, and could rise again if crypto-driven revenue weakens before spend is adjusted, as it did in 2022.

The table below combines all key Technology and Development Spending metrics into a single view for the latest three fiscal years.

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Technology & Development Spending Numbers

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Net revenue

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Total operating expenses

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Technology & Development Spending to Revenue ratio

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Technology & Development Spending to Total Operating Expenses ratio

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Credits And References

1. All data presented in this article were obtained and referenced from the companies’ respective quarterly and annual reports published on the investor relations pages.

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Disclosure

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to assist us in writing some of the text in this article. However, the data is directly obtained from original sources (usually the quarterly and annual reports) and meticulously cross-checked by our editors multiple times to ensure its accuracy and reliability.

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