Crypto: Community Banks See Net Deposit Outflows To Coinbase: Study 2026

A transaction-level analysis of 92 community banks found $78.3 million in net deposits moved to Coinbase over 13 months, with money market accounts losing most outflows.

New analysis from banking data company KlariVis found that 90% of community banks in its sample had customers transacting with Coinbase. Across 53 banks where transaction direction could be determined, $2.77 flowed to the crypto exchange for every $1.00 returning, resulting in a net $78.3 million deposit shift over 13 months.

The study reviewed 225,577 Coinbase-related transactions across 92 community banks and found that transfers were heavily concentrated in money market accounts, where 96.3% of identifiable transaction volume represented funds leaving banks for the exchange.

"In general, community banks can be defined as those owned by organizations with less than $10 billion in assets," the Federal Reserve says on its website.

KlariVis said that if the patterns observed in the sample hold nationally, more than 3,500 of the country’s roughly 3,950 community banks could have similar customer activity tied to Coinbase transfers.

The size of the 53 banks with directional data ranged from $185 million to $4.5 billion in deposits, with smaller institutions showing higher relative exposure. At banks with less than $1 billion in deposits, 82% to 84% of Coinbase-related transactions represented funds moving out, compared with about 66% to 67% at banks above $1 billion.

Across those banks, total outflows reached $122.4 million compared with $44.2 million in inflows. The average outbound transfer was $851, while inbound transfers averaged $2,999 but occurred far less frequently.

Money market accounts accounted for $36.8 million of the net outflow, with average transfers of $3,593, significantly higher than checking account movements.

Community banks hold about $4.9 trillion in deposits and fund about 60% of small business loans under $1 million and 80% of agricultural lending, according to the report, which argues sustained deposit migration could affect local credit availability.

Using academic estimates that small banks reduce lending by about $0.39 for every $1 decline in deposits, KlariVis said the $78.3 million net outflow could translate into about $30.5 million in reduced lending capacity.

Source: CoinTelegraph