Yahoo Autos Coinbase says the entire crypto market could be destabilized if Bitcoin's anonymous creator is ever revealed or sells their $64 billion stake
Coinbase went public on the Nasdaq on Wednesday via a direct listing.
In its February filing, the trading platform cites Satoshi Nakamoto's identity as a risk factor.
The creator's cache of bitcoins could wreak havoc on the market if Nakamoto sold their collection.
Cryptocurrency trading platform Coinbase - which has an over $100 billion valuation - said Satoshi Nakamoto could topple an over $1 trillion bitcoin market.
Coinbase went public on Wednesday as a direct listing on the Nasdaq. The company was assigned a reference price of $250 per share, according to NasdaqTrader.
In the documents the company released in February for its public debut, Coinbase said Satoshi Nakamoto - the pseudonym used by the individual or group of people who developed bitcoin - could cause significant damage to the company.
If the identity of the creator was revealed, it could cause bitcoin prices to deteriorate, according to the filing.
The filing also referenced Nakamoto's personal stash of bitcoins, which totals over 1 million. As of April, one bitcoin was worth over $64,000 - an all-time record.
Nakamoto could negatively affect Coinbase, the company said, and destabilize the entire crypto market if the creator decided to transfer his bitcoins, which are valued at over $64 billion.
Watch: What is bitcoin?
Read more: Mark Cuban explains how NFTs could provide new revenue streams for small businesses and creators
The creator was the first entity to ever mine for bitcoins, and Nakamoto's stake in the digital currency accounts for nearly 5% of the entire bitcoin market, as there are only 21 million bitcoins that can be mined. The entire bitcoin market is worth over $1 trillion.
Bitcoin's value has largely been driven by its deflationary tendencies. If 1.1 million bitcoins were released into the market, the digital currency's price would almost surely fall.
Similarly, Bitcoin has been praised for its decentralized nature. The currency is not beholden to any institutions or individuals. If Nakamoto was unmasked, that would place the currency under a single entity, which could discourage traders that bought into the currency for its decentralization.
