Recently, while browsing the news, a piece of information caught my eye: Coinbase announced the acquisition of the token management platform Liquifi.
Initially, I thought this was just an ordinary industry update, but then I realized it felt familiar... I quickly reviewed and, sure enough! This is already Coinbase's fourth significant acquisition since entering 2025.
An acquisition might just be a business supplement, but a series of 'buy, buy, buys' must have a deeper logic behind it. This sparked my immense curiosity. Therefore, I decided to spend some time reviewing Coinbase's shopping list this year, so we can glimpse its true strategic intentions through this series of acquisitions.
Spoiler alert: Coinbase is no longer content with just being a leading cryptocurrency exchange; it aims to build a 'financial operating system' that serves the entire on-chain world.
?️ Timing and location: Why is COINBASE 'buying, buying, buying' in 2025?
Behind any major move, there is always the right timing and location. Coinbase's wave of acquisitions is occurring in an excellent macro environment.
In the crypto industry of 2025, an unprecedented merger and acquisition (M&A) frenzy is taking place. According to industry analysis reports, the number of M&A transactions and the total disclosed transaction value in the first quarter of this year have both hit historical highs, and the industry's consolidation speed is expected to surpass the peak of the 2021 bull market. In addition to the series of actions by Coinbase, the entire industry is experiencing a surge of capital, with some sensational big moves, collectively confirming this trend.
In February 2025, Stripe acquired Bridge Network for $1.1 billion, significantly enhancing its stablecoin infrastructure and improving the speed and cost advantage of cross-border payments. In June 2025, Stripe acquired the crypto wallet integration service provider Privy, further strengthening its capabilities in the crypto wallet and digital identity space.
In May 2025, Robinhood acquired Canadian crypto company WonderFi for approximately $179 million in cash, gaining control of the mainstream exchanges Bitbuy and Coinsquare, greatly expanding its compliant market presence in Canada. On June 2, 2025, Robinhood acquired the European veteran crypto exchange Bitstamp for $200 million in cash, obtaining over 50 international licenses and a large number of institutional clients, accelerating its global expansion.
On May 1, 2025, Kraken acquired the US retail futures trading platform NinjaTrader for $1.5 billion, becoming an important player in the US futures and crypto derivatives market, promoting the deep integration of traditional finance and crypto assets.
What does this indicate? It indicates that the industry is maturing. Even financial technology giants like Stripe and Revolut are entering the field, making mainstream investors feel that 'playing with crypto' may not be so dangerous after all. In this era of 'big fish eating small fish,' giants like Coinbase are making decisive acquisitions not just for expansion, but for survival.
Interestingly, we are also seeing a new trend. Previously, traditional financial companies acquired crypto companies; now, crypto giants like Kraken and Coinbase are beginning to acquire traditional financial service enterprises. This marks a shift where crypto giants are evolving from disruptors to integrators.
? Exclusive revelation: What treasures are in COINBASE's luxurious shopping cart for 2025?
Now that we've discussed the background, let's unbox and see what treasures Coinbase has acquired this year. Each acquisition is like a puzzle piece, collectively forming its grand blueprint.
Target Company Core Functions Major Strategic Goals Deribit Crypto options and futures trading Dominate the institutional derivatives market Liquifi Token lifecycle management Provide full-stack developer services Spindl On-chain advertising and attribution analysis Build the growth engine for the Base ecosystem Iron Fish (team) Privacy protection technology Complete the core functions of the Base ecosystem.
SPINDL: Installing a 'growth rocket' for its beloved BASE ecosystem.
Imagine a scenario where a new DEX project collaborates with 10 KOLs for promotion, and each KOL posts promotional content on social media. When users see a KOL's tweet, click the link, and complete a transaction on that DEX, the project team needs to distribute token rewards to the corresponding KOL as agreed.
But the question arises: how can project teams accurately identify which KOL's promotion led to this transaction? Traditional Web2 marketing can easily track user behavior paths through technologies like cookies, but in the decentralized environment of Web3, there exists a data gap that is difficult to bridge between off-chain social media interactions and on-chain actual transactions.
The value of Spindl lies in addressing this core pain point. As an on-chain advertising and attribution analysis platform, it can be understood as the Web3-native Google Analytics. Spindl helps developers accurately identify user acquisition channels, measure the real return on investment of marketing activities (such as airdrops and KOL promotions), and create precise target audience groups based on user on-chain behavior data.
In January 2025, Coinbase acquired Spindl, aiming to create a unique competitive advantage for its Layer 2 network 'Base.' In the fierce L2 competition, relying solely on high throughput and low gas technology advantages is far from enough. By integrating Spindl, Coinbase provides Base developers with top-notch 'viral growth' toolkits, encouraging them to prioritize building applications on Base rather than other competitive blockchains. This creates a powerful positive flywheel: better applications attract more users, and more users will motivate more developers to join, accelerating the expansion of the entire Base ecosystem.
The IRON FISH team: Embedding 'privacy' into the DNA of BASE.
In March 2025, Coinbase acquired the core team of the privacy blockchain project Iron Fish. This was an 'acqui-hire'; Coinbase acquired the Iron Fish development team rather than the company or its tokens. The Iron Fish team consists of top experts in privacy protection technology, particularly in zero-knowledge proof (zk-SNARKs) technology. After the acquisition, the team will form a dedicated 'privacy group' within Base, focused on integrating privacy protection features directly into the underlying architecture of the Base network.
This will address the widespread issue of transaction transparency in public chains, where many real-world business scenarios—such as corporate payroll, B2B payments, and supply chain finance—cannot be realized on a fully transparent ledger due to commercial secrecy and privacy protection needs.
By building compliance-friendly privacy features into Base, Coinbase enables the Base ecosystem to support enterprise-grade applications that prioritize privacy and security, establishing a unique differentiated advantage in the fierce L2 competition.
DERIBIT: Spending $2.9 billion to seize the derivatives 'throne.'
In early May 2025, Coinbase acquired the global largest crypto derivatives exchange, Deribit, for $2.9 billion, marking the largest merger and acquisition deal in the cryptocurrency industry to date.
Before this acquisition, although Coinbase excelled in the spot trading field, it faced a significant shortcoming in the derivatives market—particularly in futures and options trading. Offshore exchanges like Binance and OKX have long dominated the perpetual contract market, holding a competitive advantage in the derivatives sector. The addition of Deribit completely changes this landscape. As a leading global cryptocurrency options and futures exchange, Deribit holds an absolute market share of 85% to 90% in the Bitcoin and Ethereum options market.
This acquisition has catapulted Coinbase to become the leader in the global crypto derivatives market and brought high profit, low cyclicality revenue sources to Coinbase. Unlike spot trading, options serve as hedging tools, creating trading demand regardless of market fluctuations, thus providing a more stable revenue stream. Deribit's consistent profitability record (adjusted EBITDA positive) will directly enhance Coinbase's financial statements.
After completing these acquisitions, Coinbase will achieve true differentiated competition. It will become the only comprehensive platform in the market that can simultaneously offer spot trading, US-compliant futures, international perpetual contracts, and options trading. This 'four-in-one' product matrix is currently unmatched by competitors like Binance and OKX. Coupled with Coinbase's compliance advantages, this 'all-in-one' and compliant product combination holds unparalleled appeal for institutional capital that is wary of offshore exchanges due to regulatory uncertainty.
LIQUIFI: Locking in the next unicorn from the 'cradle.'
In July 2025, Coinbase acquired the token management platform Liquifi. To understand the strategic value of this acquisition, one must first recognize the limitations of the current industry standard model. Competitors like Binance Alpha and OKX Jumpstart operate Launchpad models that essentially serve as initial token issuance platforms for 'late-stage' projects, requiring projects to have a mature team, complete roadmap, and finalized token economics. The core function of a Launchpad is marketing and token sales, but it does not touch upon the most challenging infrastructure construction work needed when projects are founded.
And Liquifi fills this gap. Imagine you want to issue your project's token; you need to handle many complex issues: who owns how many tokens? When can they sell? How to handle taxes? How to solve compliance issues? Liquifi acts like a professional 'token steward,' providing a one-stop service to help you manage everything from equity distribution and unlocking plans to compliance and taxation.
The acquisition of Liquifi enables Coinbase to intervene at the 'kindergarten' stage of projects—with only a white paper and team concept—much earlier than the traditional Launchpad model. By integrating Liquifi into the institutional-grade service platform Coinbase Prime, Coinbase has built an end-to-end service loop from project incubation to maturity. This 'full lifecycle' model not only greatly enhances customer stickiness but also establishes an exclusive, high-quality project delivery pipeline for Coinbase. When project teams establish a deep collaborative relationship with Coinbase from day one, subsequent transactions, listings, and other businesses naturally follow.
More importantly, as the trend of traditional financial assets moving on-chain accelerates, institutional clients' demand for compliant and efficient token lifecycle management tools is growing increasingly. The addition of Liquifi enables Coinbase Prime to perfectly meet this emerging high-value market demand, making this acquisition timely.
? Looking ahead: COINBASE's ambitions go beyond this.
After completing these acquisitions, will Coinbase stop? No.
The rumored big goal: CIRCLE.
There have been rumors in the market that Coinbase wants to acquire the issuer of USDC, Circle. If this becomes true, the synergy will be enormous.
Financially: Acquiring Circle will enable Coinbase to fully internalize all interest income from USDC reserves, rather than just sharing it. This will bring a substantial and stable cash flow.
Strategically: This will give Coinbase direct control of the world's largest 'compliant' stablecoin. In the context of the (GENIUS Act) passing, owning USDC will become a powerful weapon for Coinbase against its competitors, solidifying its position as a globally compliant, dollar-centered digital financial hub.
Although the strategic logic is clear, Circle's successful IPO and soaring stock prices have significantly increased the cost of an acquisition in the short term, reducing its likelihood. However, given the existing deep integration between the two parties, this is undoubtedly a long-term strategic option.
Entering the 'tokenized equities' space.
In June 2025, Coinbase's Chief Legal Officer confirmed that the company is actively seeking SEC approval to offer its clients 'tokenized equities' services. This move clearly aims to bridge traditional financial markets with on-chain economies. If successful, Coinbase will directly compete with retail brokers like Robinhood.
This trend is closely linked to the previous acquisition of Liquifi. A platform adept at managing token equity structures, vesting plans, and compliance is precisely the core backend infrastructure required for tokenized equities. This indicates that Coinbase's acquisition strategy not only focuses on crypto-native assets but is also preparing to support RWA tokenization.
These initiatives together reveal a more grand strategic goal for Coinbase. From acquiring Deribit to strengthen control over crypto-native derivatives, to seeking regulatory approval for tokenized equities, and leveraging Liquifi to build backend systems for managing any tokenized assets, Coinbase's strategy has clearly transcended the realm of 'cryptocurrency.' It is building infrastructure capable of supporting the tokenization, management, and trading of any asset (whether new crypto protocols or traditional company stocks) on the blockchain. This is a strategy for 'financializing everything,' with a potential market size far exceeding merely cryptocurrency trading.
? The ultimate revelation: COINBASE's grand vision.
So, putting all the pieces together, Coinbase's strategy is very clear. It is transforming from a simple 'trading platform' into a 'financial operating system' that serves the entire on-chain economy. This operating system provides developers with building tools (Base, Spindl, Iron Fish team), offers asset management solutions for enterprises (Liquifi), and provides top investment and trading platforms for institutional and retail users (exchanges, Deribit, Prime).
This system can be summarized into four pillars:
Dominate the institutional market: using Deribit and compliance advantages to capture the most valuable institutional clients.
Empower the developer ecosystem: using tools like Base, Spindl, Iron Fish to win over developers.
Vertically integrate the value chain: using tools like Liquifi to capture the entire lifecycle value from project inception to trading.
Build a regulatory moat: turning compliance into the strongest weapon to fend off external competition.
In simple terms, Coinbase wants to become the 'Apple of the crypto world': a vertically integrated, smooth, secure, and compliant ecological empire. Its competitors resemble the open 'Android' alliance. Coinbase has already made key moves in this grand chess game; the next question is whether it can perfectly integrate these acquisitions to truly realize its 'on-chain empire' dream. Let's wait and see!
