The secret behind Coinbase’s billion-dollar acquisition strategy

Coinbase has completed over 40 high-profile mergers and acquisitions, investing billions of dollars in promising cryptocurrency startups and unicorns.

With an estimated value of $100 billion, it’s hard to believe that a company like Coinbase needs to acquire new businesses to grow. But with $10 billion of cash on hand, the US’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange continues to seek out the next big opportunity in the sector.

Coinbase has not been shy about writing checks in 2025. The exchange reportedly paid $2.9 billion in a cash-and-stock acquisition of cryptocurrency options trading platform Deribit in August.

Then came its headline-grabbing $375 million acquisition of onchain capital raising platform Echo in October. Crypto Twitter was buzzing over the news, thanks to some genius marketeering involving Echo’s founder and influencer Cobie, who received an additional $25 million from Coinbase to relaunch his long-dormant UpOnly podcast.

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