Coinbase, the popular cryptocurrency exchange, announced today that it will acquire Tagomi, a cryptocurrency brokerage which is backed by Peter Thiel. In a statement, Coinbase noted that terms were reached as the industry faces an inflection point.
Like other crypto exchanges, Coinbase has seen a large rise in demand from institutional clients for cryptocurrency investments during the past year. As a result, Coinbase introduced new features including margin trading and Coinbase Custody, the firm’s professional custody service.
Coinbase’s announcement today follows rumors about a merger, which gained traction last autumn. The speculation at that time was so rampant that Coinbase outright denied the news.
Tagomi launched in 2018 and markets itself as the new standard in cryptocurrency trading, offering custody, lending, shorting, margin trading, financing, and staking in a single account. Despite its relatively short history, the cryptocurrency brokerage firm managed to secure a BitLicense from the Department of Financial Services of New York State in March 2019.
In the fall of 2019, Tagomi started offering customers the ability to lend or borrow Bitcoin and Ether, making it easy for anyone to go long or short on top cryptocurrencies. Tagomi also has a partnership with Binance.US and is a member of the Libra Association, which is responsible for governing Facebook’s upcoming stable coin.
Coinbase was founded by Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam in 2020. The San Francisco-based company has over a billion dollars in annual revenue and serves users in 32 countries. Earlier this year, Coinbase Custody was granted new security evaluations for professional services. After creating an entity in Ireland, the firm can now service European institutions.
Coinbase’s acquiring of Tagomi is subject to approval by regulators and other typical closing conditions. Barring unforeseen circumstances, the deal should close later in 2020.
More information regarding this announcement can be found at blog.coinbase.com.
