Coinbase's acquisition strategy: Building an on-chain financial operating system

Recently, an important piece of news has attracted widespread attention in the industry: a well-known cryptocurrency exchange announced the acquisition of the token management platform Liquifi. This marks the fourth significant acquisition by the exchange since 2025. The frequent merger and acquisition activities are undoubtedly underpinned by deep strategic considerations. Let us revisit and analyze this series of acquisitions to explore the true intentions behind them.

In short, this exchange is no longer content with just being a leading cryptocurrency trading platform, but is committed to building a "financial operating system" that serves the entire on-chain world.

Timing and Location: The Acquisition Boom of 2025

In 2025, the crypto industry experienced an unprecedented wave of acquisitions. According to analysis reports, both the number of acquisition transactions and the total disclosed transaction values for the first quarter of this year reached historical highs, with the integration speed of the entire industry expected to surpass the peak of the 2021 bull market. In addition to the series of actions that this article will introduce, the entire industry is surging with a massive wave of capital, not lacking some sensational big moves:

• In February 2025, a payment giant acquired Bridge Network for $1.1 billion, significantly enhancing its stablecoin infrastructure. In June of the same year, the company also acquired the cryptocurrency wallet integration service provider Privy, further strengthening its capabilities in the cryptocurrency wallet and digital identity space.

• In May 2025, a fintech company acquired the Canadian crypto company WonderFi for approximately $179 million in cash, gaining control of two major exchanges. On June 2 of the same year, the company further acquired the established European crypto exchange Bitstamp for $200 million in cash, obtaining over 50 international licenses and a large number of institutional clients.

• On May 1, 2025, a well-known cryptocurrency exchange acquired the U.S. retail futures trading platform NinjaTrader for $1.5 billion, becoming an important player in the U.S. futures and cryptocurrency derivatives market.

These actions indicate that the crypto industry is maturing. Even some traditional fintech giants are entering the market, making mainstream investors more positive about the crypto industry. In this era of "big fish eating small fish," giants like the protagonist of this article are making decisive acquisitions not only for expansion but also for survival.

It is worth noting that we are also seeing a new trend: crypto giants are starting to acquire traditional financial services companies. This signifies that crypto giants have begun to shift from disruptors to integrators.

Luxury Shopping List for 2025

Let's take a look at this exchange's acquisition list for the year, with each acquisition resembling a piece of a puzzle that together forms its grand blueprint.

| Target Company | Core Functions | Main Strategic Objectives | |---------|--------|------------| | Deribit | Crypto Options and Futures Trading | Dominating the Institutional Derivatives Market | | Liquifi | Token Full Lifecycle Management | Provides Full-Stack Developer Services | | Spindl | on-chain advertising and attribution analysis | Building the growth engine of the ecosystem | | Iron Fish ( Team ) | Privacy Protection Technology | Core Function of Completing the Ecosystem |

Spindl: Installing a "growth rocket" for the ecosystem

Spindl, as an on-chain advertising and attribution analysis platform, can be understood as a Web3 native Google Analytics. It helps developers accurately identify user acquisition channels, measure the true return on investment of marketing activities, and create precise target audiences based on users' on-chain behavior data.

By integrating Spindl, the exchange provides top-notch "viral growth" toolkits for developers on its Layer 2 network, encouraging them to prioritize building applications on that network. This creates a powerful positive flywheel: better applications attract more users, and more users incentivize more developers to join, thereby accelerating the expansion of the entire ecosystem.

Iron Fish team: engrave "privacy" into the ecological DNA

The acquisition of the core team of Iron Fish is a "talent acquisition." The Iron Fish team consists of top experts in the field of privacy protection technology, particularly with deep expertise in zero-knowledge proof technology. After the acquisition, the team will establish a dedicated "privacy group" internally, focusing on integrating privacy protection features directly into the underlying architecture of the network.

This will address the prevalent issue of transaction transparency in current public chains, enabling the ecosystem to support enterprise-level application scenarios that place a greater emphasis on privacy and security, thus establishing a unique differentiated advantage in the fierce competition of L2.

Deribit: Spending $2.9 billion to seize the "throne" of derivatives

The acquisition of Deribit, the world's largest cryptocurrency derivatives exchange, for $2.9 billion marks the largest merger and acquisition deal in the cryptocurrency industry to date. This acquisition catapults the exchange to become the leader in the global cryptocurrency derivatives market, bringing high profits and a relatively weak cyclical revenue source.

After the acquisition is completed, the exchange will achieve true differentiated competition. It will become the only comprehensive platform in the market capable of providing spot trading, U.S. compliant futures, international perpetual contracts, and options trading simultaneously. This "four-in-one" product matrix is currently unreplicable by competitors. Coupled with its own compliance advantages, this "all-in-one" and compliant product portfolio has unparalleled appeal for institutional capital that is cautious about offshore exchanges due to regulatory uncertainty.

Liquifi: Starting from "cradle", locking in the next unicorn

The acquisition of the token management platform Liquifi fills the limitations of the current industry standard model. Liquifi acts like a professional "token steward," providing a full range of services to help projects solve complex issues from equity distribution, unlocking plans to compliance and taxation.

By integrating Liquifi into the institutional-grade service platform, the exchange 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. When project parties establish deep cooperative relationships from day one, subsequent transactions, listings, and other businesses naturally follow.

Future Outlook

Having completed these acquisitions, the exchange's ambitions have not stopped. There have been rumors in the market that it wants to acquire the issuer of USDC. If true, the synergies would be immense, both on a financial and strategic level.

In addition, the exchange is actively seeking regulatory approval to provide its customers with "tokenized stock" services. This move is closely tied to the previous acquisition of Liquifi, indicating that its acquisition strategy is not only focused on crypto-native assets but is also preparing to support RWA tokenization.

Ultimate Decryption: Grand Vision

Putting all the pieces together, the strategy of the exchange becomes very clear. It is transforming from a pure "trading platform" into a "financial operating system" that serves the entire on-chain economy. This operating system provides developers with building tools, offers asset management solutions for enterprises, and provides top-tier investment and trading platforms for institutions and retail users.

This system can be summarized into four main pillars:

1. Dominate the institutional market: Use Deribit and compliance advantages to capture the most valuable institutional clients.

2. Empowering the developer ecosystem: Winning the hearts of developers using Layer 2 networks and tools like Spindl and Iron Fish.

3. Vertical integration of the value chain: Using tools like Liquifi to capture the entire lifecycle value from project inception to transaction.

4. Build a regulatory moat: turn compliance into the strongest weapon to fend off external competition.

In short, the exchange wants to be the "Apple of the crypto world": a vertically integrated ecosystem that is smooth, secure, and compliant. Its competitors, on the other hand, are more like the open "Android" alliance. This big game has already made key moves, and now it remains to be seen whether it can perfectly integrate these acquisitions and truly realize its dream of an "on-chain empire." Let's wait and see!