Coinbase, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchange platforms by trading volume, solidifies its position as the world’s largest BTC entity due to the size of its Bitcoin holdings, which are purportedly comparable to those held by the crypto asset’s creator, Satoshi Nakamoto.
Coinbase, the crypto exchange platform currently engaged in an ongoing legal battle against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), holds $25 billion in Bitcoin reserves, as per the latest data from the blockchain analytics company Arkham Intelligence.
In a tweet posted over the weekend, Arkham shared that Coinbase’s BTC holdings make up nearly 5% of all Bitcoin in circulation. They emphasized that this amount is roughly equivalent to what the enigmatic pseudonymous BTC creator Nakamoto might possess.
“This makes Coinbase the largest Bitcoin entity in the world on Arkham, with almost 5% of all BTC in existence – about as much as Satoshi Nakamoto,” Arkham said. They also mentioned that they had identified more than 36 million BTC holding addresses and deposits used by the exchange, with its largest cold wallet containing approximately 10,000 BTC.
However, Arkham clarified that its estimate is based solely on wallets identified as linked to Coinbase. Still, according to the exchange’s financial data, it likely holds thousands more BTC that have not yet been labeled.
“Arkham has identified and tagged over 36 million BTC deposit and holding addresses used by Coinbase, with their largest cold wallet containing approximately 10,000 BTC,” the tweet read. A follow-up tweet added, “Based on their most recent financials, Coinbase probably has thousands more BTC not yet identified.”
Arkham has now identified $25B of Coinbase Bitcoin reserves (~1M BTC) on chain.
This makes Coinbase the largest Bitcoin entity in the world on Arkham, with almost 5% of all BTC in existence – about as much as Satoshi Nakamoto. pic.twitter.com/7sDOczS7WT
— Arkham (@ArkhamIntel) September 22, 2023
It is important to note that, despite Arkham’s assertion, the exact size of Nakamoto’s Bitcoin holdings remains a mystery, even more than a decade after the release of the Bitcoin white paper.
It is believed that the pseudonymous Bitcoin creator mined over 1 million BTC when the crypto asset’s value was less than a penny.
Based on this claim and the current valuation of Bitcoin, Nakamoto’s holdings are estimated to be around $26 billion, placing the BTC creator among the largest Bitcoin whales in the market.
Interestingly, Coinbase only holds approximately 1.691 million ETH, equivalent to $2.69 billion, which is just about 10% of its Bitcoin holdings.
In its recent quarterly report, Coinbase disclosed that Bitcoin trading comprised 40% of its total volumes and accounted for approximately 39% of its transaction revenue. This underscores that trading in Bitcoin and Bitcoin pairs constitutes a significant portion of the crypto exchange’s trading volume.
As of 12:26 p.m. ET on Monday, Bitcoin was trading at $26,358.78, with a 24-hour trading volume increasing by 110.12% to $13,077,574,765. This represents a 0.74% decrease in the last 24 hours and a 3.4% decrease over the past seven days.
BTC’s total circulating supply stands at 19.5 million BTC, and its value has decreased by 0.75%, resulting in a $510.15 billion market cap, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
