Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has stated that his company is buying Bitcoin on a weekly basis.
He has also urged followers to go long on the flagship cryptocurrency while it is currently approaching a new record high.
According to the latest data, Coinbase is currently the 10th-largest corporate holder of Bitcoin. The dollar value of its BTC holdings currently stand at $995 million. It lags behind such Bitcoin treasury players as Strategy and Metaplanet, as well as e-car giant Tesla.
The leading cryptocurrency is changing hands at $107,363, according to CoinGecko data.
From Bitcoin maximalism to altcoin deluge
In a now-deleted tweet that was posted a decade ago, Armstrong described altcoins such as XRP and Stellar (XLM) as a "distraction," arguing that Bitcoin was actually "way far ahead" of them. Later, however, Armstrong abandoned this distinctly maximalist tone.
Coinbase, which was launched all the way back in 2012, was initially focused exclusively on Bitcoin despite the existence of a slew of alternative cryptocurrencies such as Litecoin (LTC) and XRP.
The pioneering U.S. exchange finally added support for Ethereum (ETH) in 2016. This marked a major pivot from the Bitcoin-only maximalist ethos.
In 2018, Coinbase opened the floodgates by enabling support for ERC‑20 tokens. During the bull market euphoria of 2021, the exchange listed nearly 100 new tokens in a year.
Following the altcoin deluge, Armstrong and Coinbase routinely draw criticism from Bitcoin maximalists for prioritizing hype-based listings instead of focusing on the largest cryptocurrency.
Vladislav Sopov
U.Today Editorial Team