Coinbase is ready to purchase $500 million worth of crypto on its balance sheet
Brokerage firm Coinbase has the green light from its board to purchase more than $500 million worth of crypto on its balance sheet, according to a tweet from its chief executive officer Brian Armstrong.
The firm, which is known for helping publicly traded companies make large bitcoin purchases, will also be investing 10% of all future profits in crypto.
"I expect this percentage to keep growing over time as this crypto economy matures," Armstrong said.
A blog penned by Coinbase's chief financial officer Alesia Haas indicated that the purchase would include Ethereum as well as other assets tied to the decentralized financial world.
"We have committed to invest $500M of our cash and cash equivalents," Haas wrote.
"We will become the first publicly traded company to hold Ethereum, Proof of Stake assets, DeFi tokens, and many other crypto assets supported for trading on our platform, in addition to Bitcoin, on our balance sheet," she added.
Coinbase, which tapped the public markets in April, has helped companies including MicroStrategy and Tesla make large crypto purchases. Firms like MicroStrategy view the move as a way to protect capital from potential inflation.
As reported by the Wall Street Journal, Coinbase has also stockpiled billions of dollars worth of cash in the event of a crypto winter or regulatory crackdown. It could also put that capital to work to make acquisitions.
This post has been updated with information from a blog penned by Coinbase chief financial officer Alesia Haas.