Coinbase Quietly Becomes a Bitcoin Giant — Bigger Than Tesla

Coinbase Global, Inc., the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States, announced it bought 2,509 BTC for approximately $222 million in Q2 2025, as disclosed in its earnings report on July 31, 2025. 

The recent acquisition increased Coinbase’s corporate Bitcoin holdings to 11,776 BTC, valued at approximately $1.26 billion. The acquisitions were made at an average purchase price of $62,837 per BTC, with unrealized gains of about $520 million, according to its SEC 10-Q filing.

CEO Brian Armstrong confirmed the approach on X, stating, “Coinbase is long bitcoin. Our position increased by 2,509 BTC in Q2, and we keep buying more.” 

The 11,776 BTC in the exchange’s corporate treasury is separate from the 884,388 BTC valued at $102 billion held for exchange customers and institutional custody clients. 

The acquisition had ranked Coinbase among the top 10 publicly traded companies holding Bitcoin, ahead of Tesla’s 11,509 BTC but behind Metaplanet’s 17,132 BTC, as revealed by Bitcoin Treasuries data.

Coinbase Q2 Financials Show Trading Decline, Expansion Plans

Coinbase’s Q2 financial results showed weakness in its trading, with overall trading volume falling 30% quarter-on-quarter to $237 billion, including retail trading volume of $43 billion, below estimates of $48.05 billion. 

The total revenue fell 26% to $1.5 billion due to a major decline in transaction revenue.

Despite those challenges, Coinbase recorded a net income of $1.43 billion, up from $66 million in Q1, supported by diversified revenue streams, including ETF custody and its Ethereum Layer 2 network, Base. 

A $307 million loss from a Q1 2025 data breach, linked to bribed foreign customer service representatives, only affected results but did not impact strategic investments.

Coinbase announced plans to become an “everything exchange” for its users in the United States, with the aim to offer tokenized stocks, prediction markets, and early-stage token sales on-chain. This upgrade will position the exchange to compete with platforms such as Kalshi, Polymarket, Robinhood, Kraken, and Gemini. 

Coinbase’s stock (COIN) closed at $391.66 on July 25, 2025, with a $100 billion market capitalization but fell 6% in after-hours trading following the July 31 earnings release, a sign of mixed investor sentiment.

Recent COIN Valuation (Source: Yahoo Finance)

Corporate Bitcoin Treasury Trend Continues

Coinbase’s Bitcoin acquisition is in line with a growing trend of public companies adopting cryptocurrency as a treasury reserve. Strategy, Inc. leads with approximately 628,791 BTC as of August 1, 2025, followed by Marathon Digital Holdings with 50,000 BTC, XXI with 43,514 BTC, Galaxy Digital holding 12,830 BTC, and Metaplanet with 17,132 BTC. 

Top 12 Public Bitcoin Treasuries (Source: BitcoinTreasuries)

Tesla, holding 11,509 BTC valued at approximately $1.2 billion, purchased $1.5 billion in Bitcoin in 2021 and sold 75% of its holdings in Q2 2022. Coinbase’s entry into the top ten is a testament to its strategic role in the crypto economy.