Coinbase (Coin) said it is increasing its Bitcoin (BTC) holdings and that it plans to launch tokenized US stocks and prediction markets in the coming months, marking a significant expansion of its business as it seeks to diversify its income stream.
In a post on X on Thursday, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said: “Coinbase is a long bitcoin. Our attitude rose by 2,509 BTC in the 2nd quarter and we continue to buy more.”
The news of coinbase -purchasing Bitcoin is not new, but it is definitely on trend, as many Bitcoin state boxes have recently emerged to emulate Michael Saylor’s Strategy (MSTR). However, the CFOS CFO, Alesia Haas, made it clearly that Coinbase is not a BTC Treasury company, but rather a crypto drift company investing in the sector.
Read more: Coinbase buys Bitcoin, just not calling it a Treasury strategy.
Separately confirmed Coinbase to CNBC that it is preparing to offer tokenized versions of US shares – digital representations of shares that can be traded on blockchain infrastructure. The products allow users to buy and sell fractions of shares around the clock with faster settlement and lower costs than traditional stock markets.
The company’s most important legal officer, Paul Grewal, announced in June that the company sought approval from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the product.
The message comes in the midst of a broader push from financial institutions to explore the tokenization process of putting assets in the real world on blockchain-as a way to improve efficiency and accessibility in the capital markets. Blackrock, Franklin Templeton and JPMorgan have all made forets in space in recent months.
Coinbas’s top competitors, Robinhood and Kraken, have both recently launched tokenized shares outside the US
The exchange also plans to launch prediction markets, which would allow users to bet on future events’ results using crypto assets. These features are expected to roll out within months, pending legislative clarity, Coinbase’s Vice President of Product, Max Branzburg, told CNBC on Thursday.
“We are building an exchange for everything,” he told CNBC. “Everything you want to shop, in a one-stop store, on-chain. … We bring all the assets onchain shares, prediction markets and more. We build the basis for a faster, more accessible, more global economy.”
Coinbase reported Thursday in the 2nd quarter Thursday, lack of estimates when the retail volume fell over the last quarter. The company’s shares are down to about 6% in trading after the market.
