Coinbase identified as the largest Bitcoin holder

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According to recent data from analysis firm Arkham Intelligence, Coinbase is currently the world’s largest known Bitcoin holder. The exchange holds an amount that rivals Bitcoin founder Satoshi Nakamoto, who currently owns one million BTC.

The discovery was made possible through Arkham’s proprietary algorithm, which tags addresses used by crypto platforms and organizations. According to Arkham, Coinbase holds 947,755 BTC, the equivalent of more than $25 billion in assets.

On the other hand, crypto surveillance platform CoinGecko found that the size of currently circulating Bitcoin is about 19,493,875, meaning that Coinbase owns at least five percent of Bitcoin in existence.

“This makes Coinbase the largest Bitcoin entity in the world, with almost 5% of all BTC in existence,” Arkham wrote.

Additionally, Coinbase’s most substantial cold wallet holds approximately 10,000 BTC, which is worth about $265 million.

Most of the coins belong to Coinbase’s users, with the exchange hosting around 36 million deposits and holding addresses. Arkham also pointed out that the actual volume of Bitcoin hosted by Coinbase could still potentially be even higher, given the existence of unlabeled addresses associated with the exchange.

While Coinbase holds a fantastical number of BTC in its wallet, the exchange only owns around 10,000 of them, which is worth around $200 million. In terms of ownership by corporation, the business intelligence firm MicroStrategy is the largest holder with 152,800 Bitcoin valued at more than $4 billion, according to MicroStrategy co-founder Michael Saylor.

Response from crypto community

The revelation about Coinbase’s Bitcoin holdings led some community members to express their concerns regarding security risks associated with the centralized exchange, especially when it is currently under scrutiny for regulatory challenges.

In June, the SEC sued Coinbase for several alleged violations, which included selling unregistered securities. Following the SEC lawsuit, Coinbase also received show cause orders from 11 US states, requiring it to justify why it shouldn’t cease operations in those states.

Fearing events like the FTX collapse, several individuals cautioned that holders should withdraw their cryptocurrency and become self-custodians with cold wallets before they are prevented from doing so.

“There is even a slogan: ‘Not your keys, not your coins,’” said one Reddit user. “CEXs are not a place to hoard your coins; use the amazing features that crypto provides and become a self-custodian with your cold wallet.”

Portfolio beyond Bitcoin

Arkham’s proprietary algorithm also revealed Coinbase’s diverse crypto portfolio other than Bitcoin, including ETH, LINK, USDC, BNB and other tokens. All of the cryptocurrencies amounted to over $29 billion, according to data as of September 22.

Coinbase currently owns 1,686,000 Ethereum (ETH) worth $2.68 billion, 68,591,000 LINK valued at $467.10 million, 222,832,000 USD Coin (USDC) worth $222.83 million, 921,875 Binance Coin (BNB) valued at $194.11 million, 854,137,000 The Graph (GRT) tokens worth $74.62 million, 12,100,000 Uniswap (UNI) tokens worth $51.18 million and 162,458,000 0x Protocol (ZRX) tokens valued at $30.28 million.

Coinbase is expected to further add to its cryptocurrency reserves, with recently secured approval to operate in Spain in addition to Italy, Singapore, the Netherlands, Brazil and Canada.