Bitcoin Trading Slump Cuts Swissquote Crypto Revenue 66%

Crypto News

Bitcoin (BTC) retail trading weakness has become the clearest drag on Swissquote Group's first-half results, even as the Swiss online bank posted record client assets. The company's investor-relations disclosure states that digital-asset revenue fell 66.2% year over year to almost $18 million in the six months through June, while a related SQX holding contributed a $6.5 million valuation loss. Customer assets, by contrast, rose 19.8% to $118.4 billion, an all-time-high for the group. Total net revenue increased only 1.7% to $447 million, and pretax profit held near $225 million, giving the bank a 50.2% pretax margin. Management attributed the crypto shortfall to geopolitical friction, higher rates and a stronger dollar, which together reduced speculative appetite for Bitcoin and the broader altcoin market. The bank's equity also reflected the pressure: its shares fell 12% after the update as investors weighed weaker retail digital-asset activity. The miss was large enough to become the primary reason for the reduced 2026 outlook, despite stable recurring businesses. The disclosure also shows that traditional units, rather than the crypto desk, produced the period's incremental growth. Swissquote's broader product mix limited the damage. Net fee and commission income rose 13% to $152 million on stronger equities, net trading income gained 15.8% to $79 million on eForex activity, and net interest income climbed 7.2% to $142 million as the balance sheet expanded 17.3% over 12 months. eForex revenue alone increased 9.1% to $56 million amid precious-metal and commodity volatility. Because crypto assets recovered more slowly than internal forecasts assumed, executives lowered full-year net revenue guidance from $934 million to $897 million and trimmed pretax profit guidance from $473 million to about $449 million. The 2028 target of roughly $615 million in pretax profit remains unchanged, signaling that management still expects digital assets to contribute over the medium term even after the Bitcoin-led trading slowdown.

Bitcoin and broader spot-market weakness in South Korea also hit Bithumb, where the second-quarter report shows how tightly earnings follow local trading volume. The exchange's earnings disclosure states that Bithumb recorded a net loss of 21.8 billion won, equivalent to about $15.7 million, for the three months through June, reversing a 22 billion won profit from the same quarter of 2025. Revenue dropped 35.8% to 86.3 billion won, while operating profit declined 44% to 12.1 billion won. The loss narrowed from the 86.9 billion won deficit recorded in the first quarter, and the company remained profitable at the operating level before virtual-asset valuation losses pulled the bottom line below zero. Transaction commissions accounted for almost all sales: fee income reached roughly 86.28 billion won, while lending, market-data and other services produced only about 3.8 million won. That concentration means a decline in completed orders, whether placed by retail customers or an AI trading bot, moves directly into quarterly revenue. First-half figures were weaker still. Bithumb's six-month net loss totaled 108.7 billion won, compared with a 55 billion won profit a year earlier, as revenue fell 48.7% to 168.8 billion won and operating profit slid 83.4% to 14.9 billion won. Market data covering Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit and Gopax showed combined first-half volume of $366.58 billion, down 54.6% from 2025. Bithumb's share also contracted: during July 1–27 it processed about 4.71 trillion won in trades, with its share among the five exchanges falling from 30.7% to 27.1% while Upbit's share rose from 62.3% to 67.4%. The exchange is continuing IPO preparations aimed at 2028, including internal-control upgrades and K-IFRS work in 2026, a preliminary listing application in 2027 and an advisory agreement with Samjong KPMG. The exchange is also discussing a possible investment by Kiwoom Securities, while completing compliance work tied to earlier data-privacy and anti-money-laundering penalties.

COINOTAG's analysis ties both disclosures to one theme: retail Bitcoin liquidity, not price alone, is the key earnings lever. Swissquote's official filing shows digital-asset revenue fell 66.2% to $18 million even while client assets reached $118.4 billion. Bithumb's earnings statement shows fee income of 86.28 billion won against only 3.8 million won from other services. The common thread is weak order flow across Bitcoin and speculative tokens. Until these businesses build less cyclical revenue beyond spot commissions, results will remain exposed to trading downturns rather than supported by one-time token events such as an Airdrop.