Coinbase to store more of its $220 million USDC holdings on Base

Coinbase has announced that it will increase its storage of USDC on its Base network, with plans to store more corporate and customer balances on the platform. This move, scheduled for March 26, is expected to improve fund management and security while reducing fees and speeding up settlement processes. Max Branzburg, Vice President of Product at Coinbase, emphasized that this change will not impact the user experience. Furthermore, Branzburg urged other companies to follow suit and transition their operations to blockchain. Currently, Coinbase holds a total of $220.7 million worth of USDC, with the majority stored on Ethereum. Only 17% of its USDC holdings are currently stored on Base, amounting to $37.4 million. The remaining USDC is distributed across various other chains. While this shift in balance may have a noticeable impact on the Base network’s USDC balance, it is not expected to significantly affect USDC’s broader distribution on Ethereum, where the majority of the stablecoin exists. It is worth noting that Coinbase’s involvement in governing USDC has changed since the dissolution of the CENTRE consortium, with governance now in the hands of Circle, in which Coinbase holds a stake and maintains a commercial relationship.