Leading United States crypto exchange, Coinbase revealed in a Thursday blog post that it had added Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies into its balance sheet as early as 2012. “Since our founding in 2012, Coinbase has held bitcoin and other crypto assets on our balance sheet, and we plan to maintain an investment in crypto assets as we believe strongly in the long-term potential of the crypto economy,” wrote Brett Tejpaul, Coinbase’s Head of Institutional Sales, Trading, Custody, and Prime Brokerage. However, the amount of the exchange’s investment into crypto is not disclosed.
A Much Awaited Public Listing
Though it was rumored that crypto exchanges made early crypto investments, this is the first time Coinbase admitted that. This admission came ahead of the pubic listing of Coinbase’s shares on Nasdaq, which the exchange confirmed today. The Form S-1 detailed that the exchange netted an income of $322.3 million in 2020, while suffered a loss of $30.4 million in the previous year. Its operating expense also jumped last year to $868.5 million from 2019's $579.5 million. 2020's total revenue of the exchange came in at $1.3 billion. Coinbase also hired Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, JPMorgan, and Allen & Co. for assistance with its listing process.
The Trend of Corporations' Bitcoin Investment
The trend of adding Bitcoin to the company’s balance sheets started with MicroStrategy, which already bought $1.145 billion worth of Bitcoins and decided to make another billion-dollar investment in the digital currency. However, the crypto market was boosted by Tesla’s $1.5 billion Bitcoin investment earlier this month. Coinbase reportedly brokered that massive investment deal for both companies. Most recently, Jack Dorsey-led Square bought $170 million in Bitcoin, but Coinbase's involvement in the deal is not known. “Coinbase has efficiently executed nine and ten figure trades for some of the largest institutions in the world,” Tejpaul added. According to The Block, Coinbase facilitated the Bitcoin purchase of at least five Fortune 500 companies. “Clients have selected us for our track record in security, sophisticated execution platform, 24/7/365 white glove service and focus on regulatory compliance,” Tejpaul noted. “Working on an agency-only basis aligns us with the interests of our clients as we seek to find the best prices available in the market.”
