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Coinbase (COIN) said it is expanding its bitcoin (BTC) holdings and that it plans to motorboat tokenized U.S. stocks and prediction markets successful the coming months, marking a important enlargement of its concern arsenic it seeks to diversify its gross stream.
In a post connected X connected Thursday, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said, “Coinbase is agelong bitcoin. Our holding accrued by 2,509 BTC successful Q2, and we support buying more."
The quality astir Coinbase buying bitcoin isn't new, but it is decidedly connected trend, arsenic galore bitcoin treasuries person popped up precocious to mimic Michael Saylor's Strategy (MSTR). However, the crypto exchange's CFO, Alesia Haas, antecedently made it wide that Coinbase isn't a BTC treasury institution but alternatively a crypto operating institution that invests successful the sector.
Read more: Coinbase Is Buying Bitcoin, Just Don’t Call It a Treasury Strategy.
Separately, Coinbase confirmed to CNBC that it is preparing to connection tokenized versions of U.S. equities — integer representations of shares that tin beryllium traded connected blockchain infrastructure. The products volition let users to bargain and merchantability fractions of stocks astir the clock, with faster colony and little costs than accepted equity markets.
The company’s main ineligible officer, Paul Grewal, announced successful June that the institution was seeking support from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the product.
The announcement comes amid a broader propulsion by fiscal institutions to research tokenization — the process of putting real-world assets connected blockchain — arsenic a mode to amended ratio and accessibility successful superior markets. BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, and JPMorgan person each made forays into the abstraction successful caller months.
Coinbase’s apical competitors, Robinhood and Kraken, person some precocious launched tokenized stocks extracurricular of the U.S.
The speech besides plans to motorboat prediction markets, which would alteration users to stake connected aboriginal events' outcomes utilizing crypto assets. These features are expected to rotation retired wrong months, pending regulatory clarity, Coinbase’s vice president of product, Max Branzburg, told CNBC connected Thursday.
“We’re gathering an speech for everything,” helium told CNBC. “Everything you privation to trade, successful a one-stop shop, on-chain. … We’re bringing each assets onchain — stocks, prediction markets, and more. We’re gathering the foundations for a faster, much accessible, much planetary economy.”
Coinbase reported second-quarter earnings Thursday, missing estimates, arsenic retail trading measurement fell during the past quarter. Shares of the institution are down astir 6% successful post-market trading.
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