Three buys went into my Trading 212 SIPP today: more Starbucks (SBUX), more Take-Two Interactive (TTWO), and a brand new position in Coinbase (COIN). Three very different businesses — a global coffee chain, a video game publisher, and a crypto infrastructure platform — but they share a common thread: strong brands, durable competitive advantages, and long-term theses I've been building conviction on. Let me walk through each one.
── Starbucks (SBUX) — The Global Coffee Habit ──
Topped up my existing Starbucks position today. I've mentioned SBUX in passing before — it sits quietly in my SIPP alongside the more frequently-discussed names — but I've never written about it in detail. So let me fix that.
Starbucks is, on the surface, a coffee company. But that's like saying Apple is a phone company. What Starbucks actually sells is a consistent, predictable experience in a world where consistency is increasingly rare. Walk into a Starbucks in London, Tokyo, Dubai, or Seattle and you know exactly what you're getting — the same menu, the same branding, the same atmosphere. That predictability is extraordinarily valuable. It's why people pay a premium for a Starbucks latte when they could make one at home for a fraction of the price. They're not buying the coffee — they're buying the ritual, the third place between home and work, the reliability of knowing exactly what they'll get.
The financials back this up. Starbucks has over 38,000 stores globally, generates tens of billions in annual revenue, and has pricing power — they can raise prices and customers largely accept it because a 20p increase on a £4 latte doesn't change the decision to buy. The loyalty programme — with tens of millions of active members in the US alone — provides a data moat that competitors struggle to match. Starbucks knows what you order, when you order it, and can target promotions with precision. That's a flywheel: more data → better personalisation → more visits → more data.
The risks? China is a big one — Starbucks has invested heavily there, and the Chinese consumer economy has been volatile. Labour costs and unionisation pressures in the US are real. And coffee is a competitive market — independent cafes, speciality roasters, and even fast-food chains like McDonald's all compete for the same caffeine pound. But Starbucks has survived and grown through economic cycles, changing consumer tastes, and intense competition for over 50 years. The brand is one of the most recognised in the world. The loyalty programme creates genuine switching costs. And the global coffee market isn't going anywhere — if anything, it's growing as emerging markets develop coffee cultures of their own. Today's top-up was modest, keeping the position at its target weight. Not exciting, but deliberate.
── Take-Two Interactive (TTWO) — The GTA VI Waiting Room ──
Also topped up Take-Two Interactive, which I wrote about in detail when I opened the position a few weeks ago. The short version: Take-Two owns Rockstar Games (Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption) and 2K (NBA 2K, BioShock, Borderlands, Civilization), plus the Zynga mobile games portfolio. Grand Theft Auto VI is on the horizon and will almost certainly be one of the biggest entertainment launches of the decade — across any medium. GTA V sold over 210 million copies and generated over $9 billion in revenue. GTA VI has over a decade of pent-up demand behind it.
But I'm not buying TTWO purely as a GTA VI trade — that's speculation, not investing. The long-term thesis is that Take-Two owns some of the most valuable intellectual property in entertainment, period. Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption, BioShock, Borderlands, Civilization, NBA 2K — these are franchises that will generate revenue for decades. The shift to digital distribution has improved margins. In-game monetisation (GTA Online, NBA 2K MyTeam) generates recurring revenue years after the initial sale. And the interactive entertainment industry has grown to eclipse film, music, and home video combined. Today's top-up was routine — I had a bit more conviction than when I opened the position, and I wanted the position size to reflect that. Still a satellite holding, still small relative to the SIPP, still comfortable with the risks.
── Coinbase (COIN) — A New Position ──
This is the new one. I opened a position in Coinbase Global today — my first direct exposure to crypto infrastructure. Coinbase is the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States and one of the most trusted brands in a sector that desperately needs trust. They provide a platform for buying, selling, and storing cryptocurrencies, as well as a growing suite of institutional services, staking, custody, and — increasingly — the infrastructure layer that sits underneath the crypto economy.
Let me be upfront: this is a speculative position, sized accordingly. Crypto is volatile, regulatory uncertainty is real, and Coinbase's revenue is highly correlated with crypto market cycles — when trading volumes boom, revenue soars; when crypto winter hits, revenue collapses. I understand these risks and I've sized the position small enough that a significant drawdown won't materially impact my overall SIPP.
So why buy it at all? Several reasons. First: Coinbase is evolving beyond a pure exchange. Their growing custody business — holding crypto assets securely for institutions — generates recurring fee revenue that's stickier than trading fees. Their staking service lets customers earn yield on crypto holdings, with Coinbase taking a cut. Their Base layer-2 blockchain (built on Ethereum) positions them as infrastructure, not just a brokerage. If crypto matures as an asset class — and I believe, over a multi-decade time horizon, it probably will — Coinbase is well-positioned to be the infrastructure layer that institutions and retail investors use to access it.
Second: Coinbase has survived multiple crypto winters and come out stronger each time. It went public in 2021, lived through the FTX collapse (which, counterintuitively, benefited Coinbase by driving customers toward regulated, trusted exchanges), and has built a balance sheet that can withstand prolonged crypto downturns. That resilience matters. Many crypto companies didn't survive 2022. Coinbase not only survived — it gained market share.
Third: the regulatory environment, while still uncertain, is gradually clarifying. The US has been moving — slowly — toward a framework for crypto regulation. Coinbase has been proactive in engaging with regulators rather than fighting them. If a clear regulatory framework emerges, Coinbase is one of the best-positioned companies to benefit — it has the compliance infrastructure, the brand recognition, and the institutional relationships that smaller or offshore exchanges lack.
The risks are substantial and I want to name them clearly. Crypto trading volumes could decline and stay low for years. Regulatory crackdowns could restrict Coinbase's business model — especially around staking services, which the SEC has already challenged. Competition from decentralised exchanges, Binance (which remains larger globally), and traditional finance players moving into crypto (Fidelity, BlackRock) could squeeze margins. And Coinbase's stock is volatile — it can move 20% in a week on crypto sentiment alone. This position is small, it will stay small, and I'm prepared for it to be a wild ride. It's a conviction satellite, not a core holding.
── Pulling It Together ──
Three very different buys today, but they all fit the same pattern: strong brands, competitive moats, and long-term conviction. Starbucks is the boring consumer staple — coffee is not going out of fashion. Take-Two is the entertainment franchise play — great IP compounding in value over decades. Coinbase is the speculative infrastructure bet — if crypto matures, Coinbase benefits; if it doesn't, the position is small enough not to matter. That's the satellite strategy in action: enough conviction to stay engaged, enough diversification to survive being wrong, and enough humility to keep every individual bet small.
As always: this is what I did with my own money. Not a recommendation. All investing carries risk — you can lose money, and past performance doesn't predict future returns. Individual shares carry significantly more risk than diversified funds. US-listed shares carry currency risk for UK investors. Coinbase carries specific risks including crypto market volatility, regulatory uncertainty, and business model risk — it's a speculative position and not suitable for most investors. Do your own research.