Coinbase: Over 99% of customer assets are stored in cold wallets
Recent security incidents at exchanges have raised concerns among many investors about asset safety, and Coinbase has provided an explanation of its asset custody and security measures.
Coinbase stated that the platform holds customer assets at a 1:1 ratio and will not lend or misappropriate them without customer authorization. Over 99% of customer assets are stored in offline cold wallets, with only a small amount of assets remaining in hot wallets to meet daily withdrawal needs.
PS: Most exchanges currently use similar solutions.
Regarding the protection of cold wallets, Coinbase claims that private keys are split and stored in a decentralized manner, meaning that even when signing a transaction, they are not reassembled into a complete private key. Transfers from cold wallets to hot wallets are also subject to limits and anomaly detection, and any irregularities will require investigation; in an emergency, the platform can also suspend part or all of the fund transfers.
As of September 30, 2026, Coinbase had $8.6 billion in cash and cash equivalents, and the platform held or managed assets for users totaling approximately $377 billion.
In addition to wallet security, Coinbase is also using AI to test code, applications, and infrastructure, and is employing smart contract auditing tools to find vulnerabilities. For user transfers, the platform states that it evaluates the risk of on-chain addresses and sets anti-fraud warnings and tests before large or high-risk off-exchange transfers.
PS2: Personally, during my time using Coinbase, I was quite frustrated because whether it was for depositing or withdrawing funds, both the address and bank account required verification more than twice.
At first, I was resistant and thought it was a waste of time, but looking back over such a long period, Coinbase has effectively integrated the whitelist mechanism with fund deposits and withdrawals.
Currently, I have activated whitelist solutions on the main exchanges I use, allowing only the whitelist to transfer funds.
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