Coinbase Defends Ethereum Holdings Amid Accusations of Dumping

Coinbase's Vice President of Engineering Jesse Pollak has pushed back against accusations that the exchange is selling Ethereum (ETH) on its Base layer-2 network.

The criticism centers around Coinbase's sequencer, which earns fees in ETH and converts them to USD or BTC. Critics argue this dilutes the value of ETH rather than increasing it.

Pollak countered that Coinbase holds more ETH than any non-DAT holder by an order of magnitude, citing the exchange's ~151,180 ETH on the Strategic ETH Reserve tracker, worth approximately $256 million.

He also highlighted Coinbase's contributions to Ethereum, including shipping EIP-4844 and creating the USDC stablecoin, which has brought millions of users into the ecosystem. Pollak emphasized that reach trumps any single balance-sheet decision.