Leading crypto platform Coinbase has been aggressively expanding its Cardano holdings, acquiring a whopping 12 billion ADA tokens in a relentless buying spree.
This strategic move comes amidst a bullish market sentiment, showcasing Coinbase’s confidence in securing a sizable ADA portfolio at attractive rates.
According to data from the blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis, Coinbase’s largest cold wallet added a staggering 3.2 billion ADA tokens to its crypto holdings between September 1 and September 15, bringing its total ADA stash to 12.08 billion tokens valued at $28.6 billion. Notably, ADA is the exchange’s second largest cryptocurrency holding after Bitcoin.
The timing of Coinbase’s accumulation couldn’t be more fascinating. Cardano, often dubbed the “Ethereum Killer”, witnessed a historic milestone on September 12th, 2023, when it successfully launched its smart contract functionality on the Alonzo hard fork. This upgrade marked a turning point for the third-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.
This significant increase in holdings positions Coinbase as a dominant player in the ADA market, bringing it closer to the reigning Cardano custodian, Binance.
Binance, a global crypto exchange giant, currently has the largest ADA portfolio, currently holding 15.32 billion ADA tokens. With a total value of approximately $36.3 billion, Binance’s ADA holdings extend into a public wallet known as “Binance 1”, which houses an additional 10.4 billion ADA tokens valued at around $24.6 billion.
To put these figures into perspective, Binance collectively owns a remarkable 5.1% of the total circulating supply of Cardano, while Coinbase commands a substantial 2.4% share, as per data from the blockchain explorer CardanoScan. Notably, another major ADA custodian is the American crypto platform Kraken, which reportedly holds 10% of the exchange’s total reserves in ADA, emphasizing the growing popularity of this innovative blockchain project.
Major exchanges’ significant accumulations of Cardano tokens underscore their belief in ADA as a promising long-term asset. Elsewhere, retail investors have also shown increased interest in the third-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, with whales making significant transfers between wallets in the past month.
Meanwhile, despite the Cardano (ADA) network buzzing with smart contract activity, the price is yet to follow suit. Since mid-August, ADA’s price has been consolidating in a narrow range as bears and bulls fight for control. Nevertheless, the price finally broke above the resistance at around $2.40. However, the price needs to sustain above $2.50 to turn the trend bullish.
