The communication was from Max Branzburg, vice president of product of Coinbase, through an X post on the 27th of March. The announcement came from Max Branzburg, Coinbase’s vice president of product, via an X post on March 27. He pointed out the benefits of lower fees and faster settlement periods. This strategic change is designed to keep the user experience provided by Coinbase as it is, without any negativity whatsoever.
Shift towards Base for efficiency
The move to shift more corporate and customer USDC balances to Base exemplifies the strategies that Coinbase has been implementing to improve its asset management. At present, data from Arkham Intelligence shows that fewer than 1% of Coinbase’s assets are located on Base. In comparison, more than 70% are on the Bitcoin network and almost 30% on Ethereum.
However, these figures do not specify Coinbase’s specific plans, namely the quantity of USDC to be transferred to Base and the timeline of this transition. This move is seen as an attempt to tap into the growing ecosystem of Base, which has recently achieved a total value locked (TVL) of more than $1 billion, a milestone for the network.
Growing Base ecosystem and Coinbase’s position
Coinbase’s disclosure comes during a time of rapid expansion for Base. DefiLlama mentions that the TVL in Base has seen an incredible surge, as the base TVL has risen from approximately $400 million to over $1 billion in less than a month. At present, Coinbase holds five tokens on Base, with USDC being the major part with over $37.3 million.
Nevertheless, the specific breakdown of Coinbase’s assets across the networks is not known, as the exchange does not publically release its addresses. The decision to hold more USDC on Base not only reflects Coinbase’s faith in the layer-2 solution but also symbolizes a general trend in the industry toward looking for efficiency and minimization of transaction fees in asset management.
This approach is part of Coinbase’s larger objective of improving its asset management practices and maintaining a frictionless user experience. The emphasis on Base, with its lower transaction costs and quicker settlements, is a proactive approach to the exchange and storage of cryptocurrency. In the changing cryptocurrency market, the moves by big players like Coinbase require strategic adjustments, and such actions are likely to affect other industry players, potentially resulting in higher adoption of layer-2 solutions such as Base.
