According to Foresight News and reported by Blockworks, Coinbase announced the completion of its sixth acquisition this year, which is a 'talent acquisition' of the DeFi derivatives protocol Opyn, including Opyn co-founder and CEO Andrew Leone and research director Joe Clark.
Coinbase stated that the Opyn team has a rich background in on-chain technology and an understanding of traditional market structures, having created the first DeFi options protocol and launched the Power Perpetuals and Squeeth products. The two will join the Onchain Markets team under Coinbase's institutional division, focusing on building Verified Pools and other on-chain market infrastructure. Opyn was previously charged by the CFTC in 2023 for allegedly operating an unregistered trading platform, and later reached a settlement with the regulatory agency. Coinbase stated that this acquisition aligns with its 'build/acquire/partner/invest' strategic model, and Leone and Clark's vision and capabilities in on-chain financial markets facilitated this transaction.
This is also part of Coinbase's ongoing efforts to advance its on-chain business this year. Previously, it had acquired the browser product Roam, the on-chain attribution platform Spindl, the privacy chain project Iron Fish team, the derivatives trading platform Deribit, and the token distribution platform Liquifi.