Arkham, a blockchain intelligence platform, recently made a noteworthy discovery: cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase is in possession of nearly 1 million Bitcoins, currently valued at over $25 billion based on prevailing BTC market prices.
Arkham's findings suggest that Coinbase holds nearly 5% of the total Bitcoin supply in existence. To be precise, their analysis indicates that Coinbase has accumulated 947,755 BTC. For context, the current circulating supply of Bitcoin, according to data from CoinGecko, stands at approximately 19,493,537 coins.
Additionally, Arkham reported that it identified and marked 36 million Bitcoin deposit and holding addresses affiliated with various exchanges. Among these, Coinbase's largest cold wallet was found to contain approximately 10,000 BTC. Arkham speculates that Coinbase likely possesses more Bitcoin that remains untagged and unidentifiable based on the exchange's financial reports. Despite having over $25 billion worth of BTC in its wallets, Coinbase only holds around 10,000 BTC in their hot wallets, which is valued at approximately $200 million based on the latest data.
The revelation about the substantial amount of Bitcoin held by centralized exchanges has garnered mixed reactions from the cryptocurrency community. Some see this as a signal to withdraw their Bitcoin from exchanges, cautioning holders not to wait until exchanges potentially halt withdrawals. On the other hand, Some individuals express concerns about storing their assets in cold wallets, citing legitimate worries.
Regarding corporate Bitcoin holdings, it's worth noting that business intelligence firm MicroStrategy still leads the pack with the most significant Bitcoin holdings. As per an earnings report published on August 1, MicroStrategy's co-founder Michael Saylor claimed the company possessed 152,800 BTC, which was valued at over $4 billion at that time.
