According to recent data, Coinbase Global is close to reaching a significant milestone when it comes to its Bitcoin holdings.
The crypto exchange requires only 5,019 more Bitcoin tokens for its total holdings to reach the 1 million mark.
In the preceding fortnight, the company has experienced a significant increase in its Bitcoin reserves, as they have grown by 16,404, which has pushed them closer to the notable milestone.
The milestone
Currently, the total number of Bitcoin tokens held in Coinbase’s reserves stands at 994,981 and their valuation is around $42.17 billion.
Coinbase is only trailing behind Satoshi Nakamoto, the founder of Bitcoin, and it is the most substantial Bitcoin holder in the entire crypto industry.
In the last two weeks, the crypto exchange saw a deposit of a total of 16,404 bitcoins, which were valued at $494 million.
Meanwhile, the company’s trading platform i.e. Coinbase Pro, saw a withdrawal of a total of 4,624.56 BTC, which was evident from the 30-day outflow data of the platform.
There has been a major flurry of activity recorded amongst the ten new spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that were approved in the United States in this month.
The activity
Since January 12th, 2024, there has been a decline in the reserves of Grayscale’s GBTC, which has now turned into an ETF. It saw its reserves fall by 114,367.39 BTC.
Meanwhile, the nine other spot Bitcoin ETFs were able to accumulate a total of 132,170 BTC collectively since their launch.
It should be noted that every ETF, with the exception of Fidelity and VanEck, has opted to use the custodial services of the Coinbase crypto exchange.
This reliance is likely why Coinbase recorded a modest increase in its BTC reserves since January 13th, as there was an inflow of 16,404 tokens.
The reason
The eight Bitcoin ETFs that are using Coinbase’s custodial services could have facilitated offchain swaps, which would have made the crypto exchange the sole intermediary.
If Coinbase continues to see the BTC deposit trend, then it is likely that its total reserves will soon reach the milestone of 1 million, given that it only needs 5,019 tokens.
The current holdings of the company only represent 5.07% of the total supply of bitcoins in the market, which is around 19,611,049.
Meanwhile, its holdings are about 4.73% of the total 21 million supply cap of Bitcoin. Other than the custodial activities, of Coinbase, other crypto exchanges have also seen a Bitcoin influx in this month.
Data from cryptoquant.com shows that on January 1st, the total amount of Bitcoins held by crypto exchanges stood at 2,087,030 tokens.
But, since then, it has risen to 2,100,984, which means that within a period of 28 days, the number has increased by 13,954 BTC.
Generally, an increase in BTC reserves on crypto exchanges is considered a sign of rising selling pressure, while the opposite is applicable if there is an increase in withdrawals, thereby reducing liquidity in the market.