Emre Yumlu 
Coinbase is adding Bitcoin to its balance sheet, but this move is certainly not an “all-in on BTC” strategy.
While announcing its Q1 2025 financial results, Chief Financial Officer Alesia Haas stated that they had invested approximately $150 million in crypto assets. A large portion of this amount consists of Bitcoin. As a result, Coinbase’s long-term investment portfolio has reached $1.3 billion, which equals 25% of its net cash.
However, Haas emphasized that this should not be confused with Bitcoin maximalist companies like MicroStrategy:
“To be clear, we are an operating company. But we also invest in line with developments in the industry,” she said.
In other words, Coinbase is not tying the company’s fate to Bitcoin. CEO Brian Armstrong also mentioned during a call with individual investors that in the early days, the idea of buying more BTC was tempting, but it was too risky for a young company. Today, things have changed; Coinbase is now a publicly traded and major player in the industry. Still, it has no approach of going “all-in on Bitcoin.”
The company continues to show its commitment to the sector by recycling profits from operations into crypto assets. This strategy is similar to how a commodity company stockpiles raw materials it understands well. Coinbase’s approach stands out as a sector-based and expertise-driven investment, rather than a Bitcoin-centric identity construction like that of Michael Saylor.
In fact, this BTC purchase wasn’t even announced in the shareholder letter. The news only surfaced after an individual investor asked about “accumulating crypto reserve assets.”
Although Armstrong didn’t speak directly about these purchases, he summarized his vision as follows:
“We are in crypto — and we’ve been in it from the beginning. We’ve focused on this sector for 12 years, and that focus will not change. Crypto is transforming financial services.”
For Coinbase, buying Bitcoin is not about sending signals to the market, making headlines, or engaging in aggressive investing. This approach is a natural extension of the company’s belief, business focus, and long-term stance.
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