Cash balances customers store with Coinbase are held as a balance in your Coinbase account(s). For U.S. customers, Coinbase combines your balance with the balances of other customers (plus some cash we contribute for operational reasons) and holds those funds in custodial accounts at U.S. financial institutions and/or invests those funds in liquid U.S. Treasuries, USD denominated money market funds, or other permissible investments in accordance with state money transmitter laws. Funds could be held in any one of these manners so customers should not assume that funds are being held in one manner over the other. For non-U.S. customers, funds are held as cash in dedicated custodial accounts separate from Coinbase funds. For all customers,Coinbase will neither use these funds for its operating expenses or any other corporate purposes.
To the extent U.S. customer U.S. Dollar funds are held as cash, they are maintained in pooled custodial accounts at one or more FDIC-insured banks or or NCUSIF-insured credit unions. Our custodial accounts have been established in a manner to allow Coinbase to make a claim against pass-through FDIC or NCUSIF insurance for each customer up to the per-depositor coverage limit then in place (currently $250,000 per individual). Pass-through insurance may be available to protect funds held on behalf of a Coinbase customer against the risk of loss should any insured financial institution(s) where we maintain custodial accounts fail. Pass-through coverage is contingent upon Coinbase maintaining accurate records and on determinations of the relevant federal regulator as receiver at the time of a receivership of a bank holding a custodial account. Below is a list of the insured depository institutions at which Coinbase may deposit customer U.S. Dollar funds:
[as of October, 2024]
Find out more about FDIC deposit insurance in the FDIC’s fact sheet, here. Find out more about the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund here.