Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States, has $25 billion in Bitcoin reserves, an amount that rivals the holdings of Bitcoin's founder. Satoshi Nakamoto.
In a publication of Arkham Intelligence On Saturday, the company identified approximately $25 billion worth of Bitcoin held in around 36 million wallets belonging to Coinbase and used to deposit and hold the tokens. The largest cold wallet identified has around 10,000 Bitcoin, which is worth around $265 million at the time of writing, according to Coingecko data.
Arkham's estimate is based solely on wallets identified as connected to Coinbase, but the firm suggests this amount is close to the estimated amount held by the founder of Bitcoin.
"This [amount] "makes Coinbase the world's largest Bitcoin entity in Arkham, holding nearly 5% of all BTC in existence," the company wrote in a tweet.
Nakamato's exact identity remains unknown fifteen years after the Bitcoin white paper appeared on an online messaging forum for cryptographers. Like the identity of the enigmatic creator, the exact size of Nakamoto's Bitcoin holdings remains a mystery.
Between January and July 2009, Satoshi is believed to have mined more than 1 million BTC in total when the value of Bitcoin was below the value of one cent. At today's value, this would be equivalent to more than $26 billion. If true, this would make Nakamoto one of the largest crypto whales today, but there has been no definitive verification of his ownership of these wallets.
Trading Bitcoin and Bitcoin pairs makes up a significant portion of Coinbase's trading volume. In its most recent quarterly earnings reportCoinbase said Bitcoin trading accounted for 40% of its total volumes and about 39% of its transaction revenue.
Arkham estimates that the wallets it connected to Coinbase may be an incomplete figure based on the exchange's reported finances. In the most recent Coinbase 10-Q filing With the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), it estimated that it had $60.7 billion in assets and client liabilities in Bitcoin.
