The leading US crypto exchange Coinbase has reportedly amassed Bitcoin holdings worth about $7 billion.
Coinbase leads all exchanges worldwide (excluding China) with a balance of about 966,230 BTC, according to new data published by BitUniverse, a cryptocurrency portfolio tracker.
BitMEX is second, with a balance of about 265,540 BTC worth approximately $1.9 billion, and Bitstamp is third, holding roughly 225,660 BTC worth about $1.6 billion.
Most of the Bitcoin troves largely represent what the exchanges are holding on behalf of their customers, not strictly company fortunes.
?New research from us, powered by #PeckShield.
We did a first-of-its-kind analysis of Exchange Transparent Balance Rank
First 10 exchanges including @coinbase @BitMEXdotcom @Bitstamp @bitfinex @krakenfx @BittrexExchange @Poloniex @Gemini
Full Rank to be revealed on 12/12/2019! pic.twitter.com/JnlXNaBnD7— BitUniverse (@bituniverse_org) December 2, 2019
A report last month from TokenData refers to the exchange as a merger-and-acquisition powerhouse, having made more acquisitions than any other exchange.
“Coinbase is the leader in Strategic M&A with 16 acquisitions. While the company’s M&A strategy mainly consists of acquihires and technology ‘tuck-ins’, it has also engaged in two significant acquisitions such as Earn ($100M) and Xapo’s custody business ($55M).”
Coinbase shows no signs of slowing down. In October, the San Francisco-based exchange secured an e-money license from regulators at the Central Bank of Ireland, one of only a few companies in the space to obtain such approval.
TechCrunch has also reported that after the Ripple-backed rental startup Omni closed its doors, Coinbase initiated plans to hire 10 of their engineers.
BitUniverse says it will release a full list of exchange balances on December 12th.
