Coinbase Doesn’t Custody All of Strategy’s Bitcoin—So Who Does?

Bitcoin Treasury Giant strategy has always been cautious about mentioning his BTC managers. But people outside the company know who they are.

To begin with, Strategy has repeatedly cited his “different guardianship schemes” – there is no exclusive custodian who holds on behalf of the company for the company for the company. A spokesperson for Coinbase confirmed that it is one of the managers of the strategy when requested by Decrypt– But emphasized that MSTRA Coinbase previously mentioned as one of his managers.

Strategy did not immediately respond to a request for comments from Decrypt About her decision to keep the names of his preservators.

The issue of the Bitcoin interests of Strategy, and which exactly holds the keys to the stock of $ 72 billion, was recently put forward after controversial statements from the founder of the company, Michael Saylor. In May Saylor said it was one ‘bad idea“To share” proof of reserves “or otherwise offer a detailed list of preservators, with reference to safety problems.

Skeptical cryptomarket observers, many of whom have the infection-inducing flow-ups of FTX, Three Arrows Capital, Celsius and others, Saylor criticized the moment he refused to share these details, although others supported the preliminary approach to operational safety. The case came back to the public discourse two weeks ago when Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong proud on X That his company Bitcoin monitors eight out of 10 listed BTC holders – the fact that Coinbase is strongly implied is one of the strategy of the strategy.

Armstrong’s tweet, however, may not have been as controversial as some initially interpreted. According to Coinbase, Saylor had previously mentioned Coinbase as one of the preservators. Strategy – Formerly MicroStrategy – is after all a public company, trade under the ticker MstrSo a little disclosure is expected.

Strategy indeed revealed details about its preservators in the SEC A letter from April 2023. The supervisor wrote on 5 April 2023 to the strategy to ask how “recent bankruptcies in the crypto industry and failures of certain financial institutions, and the power -reducing effects of such events, have influenced your company or have an impact on your company.”

At the time, the industry of the collapse of $ 8 billion from FTX staggered. Subscribe Silvergate Bank and Signature Bank were forced to settle their activities in March. During the entire period, regulators and shareholders were wondered whether the BTC of the strategy was still safe – in particular because strategy had used part of his BTC as collateral for a loan from Silvergate.

But when the strategy answered two weeks later and answered the SEC request to “tell us the names of your managers,” the company called on Sec line 83 To keep the details confidential.

What was publicly left public is that strategy keeps his bitcoin to accounts in “established, institutional preservators who have demonstrated data on compliance with regulations and information security, and all our managers are New York Department of Financial Services (” NYDFS “) regulated preservators.”

That is descriptive enough to resolve the list of probable preservators.

Of the 35 recipients of NYDFS Bitlicenzen, only 9 limited target confidence had charters when the strategy sent his letter in the spring of 2023. That include Bitgo” Coinbase” Gmoz.com” Fidelity” Baking” Twin” Not” PaxosAnd Standard guardianship and trust company.

Coinbase is not a big surprise, especially since the exchange has often been quoted in MSTR -archives As his ‘main market for Bitcoin’. Strategy actually made it First of all, Bitcoin buys through Coinbase.

Meanwhile Blockchain Analytics Platform Arkham Intelligence claims to have traced 70,000 at the company’s BTC at Fidelity in May.

The company has not confirmed that it has a part of its BTC with Fidelity, but the company fits in the profile because it is on the list. A source that is familiar with Fidelity Digital Asset Services Business Decrypt The company takes the security of its customers very seriously and would not show the information from customers – directly or indirectly.

There are also a few among the radar companies on the list of possibilities.

GMO-Z.com is the American subsidiary of GMO Internet Group, a large Japanese internet conglomerate that owns ONAAME domain registration, web hosting, payments and a crypto exchange and mining company. It is also the issue of Gyen, who calls it the first regulated Japanese yen stablecoin, and sister, an American dollar stabilecoin.

It is unlikely that GMO-Z has one of the strategy Bitcoin Because the company says explicitly It is reserved in Gyen or Zusd, his American dollar-pegged stablecoin.

The Standard Custody & Trust Company, which Ripple took over in June 2024, was a subsidiary of Polysign. Polysign was partly founded by Ripple Fellow founder Arthur Britto, Ripple Chief Technology Officer David Schwartz and is led by CEO Jack McDonald. McDonald is also the SVP from Stablecoin in Ripple.

Standard guardianship has gone out of the way to fly under the radar and position itself as an institutional figure, white-label custodian.

Bakkt Trust Company is also on the list. Former parent company Bakkt has been many things over the years. In 2019 Bakkt Digital Asset Custody Company and Landed a limited goal confidence Charter-Making one of the first companies to become a Bitcoin stakeholder regulated by NYDFS.

But the company has sold its guardianship company to its parent company. Neither Bakkt nor intercontinental exchange responded to a request from Decrypt about whether the guardianship company still has customers.