Coinbase Custody Now Has $1 Billion of Crypto Under Management, CEO Says

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said the exchange's custody service, Coinbase Custody, has $1 billion in assets under management in just 12 months after launch.

"We launched our custody 12 months ago, we've just crossed $1 billion AUM or institutions, 70 institutions have signed up, adding about $150 million AUM a month to a large degree that has been a success."

He added the institutions are not merely interested in having their funds sit idle while in custody either.

He also noted bitcoin is still the main asset of interest for institutions, but the interest for other cryptocurrencies is growing, too, so Coinbase currently offers services for 30 coins for institutions, including staking-as-a-service for some.

Both panelists, Armstrong and Union Square Ventures partner Fred Wilson, noted the institutions involved are not necessarily the big, traditional players most are familiar with, such as BlackRock.

"The token funds and venture funds will make up the first two big institutional funds," Wilson said.

"When people read in the Wall Street Journal that institutions are coming to crypto they think Goldman is coming, but in reality, maybe 100 token funds in the U.S. and 100 in Asia are all in so far."

The Coinbase trading platform geared toward more advanced traders, Coinbase Pro, is seeing notable institutional involvement as well, Armstrong said, with more than half of its trading volume now coming from said institutions.

"Sixty percent of our trading volume is from institutions," Armstrong said.

While so far a success, Coinbase being the sole custodian of user funds is not the exchange's end goal.