Coinbase, one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges, reportedly considered adopting a bold Bitcoin accumulation strategy similar to that of Michael Saylor and MicroStrategy—but ultimately decided against it multiple times over the past 12 years.
In a May 9 video interview with Bloomberg, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong revealed that the company had internally debated the idea of allocating a large portion of its balance sheet—up to 80%—to Bitcoin. However, leadership decided the move was too risky and could jeopardize the firm’s core operations.
“We made a conscious choice about risk,” Armstrong said, acknowledging the temptation to make a large-scale crypto bet. “There were definitely moments over the last 12 years where we thought, man, should we put 80% of our balance sheet into crypto — into Bitcoin specifically.”
Avoiding Conflict with Customers
Coinbase CFO Alesia Haas echoed Armstrong’s concerns. She emphasized that Coinbase didn’t want to appear as though it was picking crypto winners, especially since the platform services a broad range of assets and clients.
“We didn’t want to be seen as directly competing against our customers,” Haas explained.
Still, Coinbase isn’t entirely out of the Bitcoin game. According to its Q1 earnings report released May 8, the company added $153 million in crypto to its holdings—primarily in Bitcoin. It now holds 9,480 BTC worth approximately $988 million, representing the bulk of its $1.3 billion in crypto assets.
This puts Coinbase in ninth place among corporate Bitcoin holders, behind MicroStrategy, MARA Holdings, and Tesla.
While Coinbase Stays Cautious, Others Go All In
While Coinbase stayed on a more cautious path, several other public companies have followed Saylor’s playbook—raising funds through stock and debt offerings to buy Bitcoin, betting that long-term price appreciation would boost their equity value.
Today, more than 100 publicly traded companies hold Bitcoin. The list also includes 40 ETF issuers, 26 private firms, and 12 nation-states, according to public data.
Coinbase Expands into Derivatives with $2.9B Deal
In a significant move to broaden its market presence, Coinbase announced on May 8 that it will acquire crypto derivatives platform Deribit for $2.9 billion. This is the largest corporate acquisition in the crypto industry to date.
The purchase gives Coinbase a major foothold in the booming crypto derivatives market, previously only accessible through its Bermuda-based platform. Deribit handled over $1 trillion in trading volume in 2024 and has about $30 billion in open interest.
