US crypto exchange giant, Coinbase has made its first purchase in 2021 with the acquisition of crypto trade execution startup, Routefire. The financials of the deal were not disclosed. Routefire officially announced the deal on Thursday, detailing the termination of its services. The entire team of the startup will join the San Francisco-headquartered exchange “to continue developing best-in-class execution services for digital assets.” Coinbase closed this deal as Bitcoin is soaring and constantly breaking its previous record-highs. At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading at $41,700, gaining almost 12 percent in the past 24 hours. The rally was mostly triggered by the institutional adoption of the digital currency. Coinbase itself facilitated the massive Bitcoin investment of MicroStrategy and One River Asset Management. Founded in 2017, Routefire was backed by Blockchain Capital, Hustle Fund and FJ Labs. However, investment details on the startup were not public. “Our mission was to enhance trading infrastructure in crypto markets, and we developed one of the most performant tools in the space, routinely filling $1mm+ orders with 50 bps or more in price improvement,” the startup wrote.
Institutions Are the Target Now
The team from Routefire is likely to work on the expansion of Coinbase’s prime brokerage solution. Coinbase acquired over 20 crypto startups over the years, one of the most prominent being crypto prime brokerage, Tagomi, which was added to its portfolio last year. Furthermore, it invested heavily in other crypto startups through its venture arm. The latest acquisition came when Coinbase is planning to launch an initial public offering (IPO) to list its stocks on the US exchanges. The crypto exchange was valued at $8 billion in its last funding round.
