Just a few hours away from releasing its earnings report, Coinbase, the largest crypto exchange in the US, announced it’s acquiring crypto options platform Deribit.
“This is a major step in our global expansion strategy. With Deribit’s strong international presence and Coinbase’s regulated US and International operations, we’re set to offer unparalleled access to crypto derivatives around the world,” Coinbase posted on X.
The acquisition was “for roughly $2.9 billion in cash and stock,” The Wall Street Journal reported.
Matthew Sigel, head of digital assets at VanEck, said this was “crypto’s largest ever M&A” deal.
Deribit, the world’s biggest trading platform for bitcoin and ethereum options, saw a 95% year-over-year growth in total volumes to $1.185 trillion in 2024 from $608 billion in 2023, according to a company report.
The increase in activity was particularly significant in Q4, “as institutional investors demonstrated heightened optimism around the US presidential election,” Deribit CEO Luuk Strijers said.
Alan Orwick, cofounder of Quai Network, told Sherwood News that Coinbase’s acquisition, following Ripple’s acquisition of Hidden Road last month, underscores “a trend boosted by a pro-crypto administration and less fears of a bear market.”
He added, “With the Deribit acquisition, there’s another uptick in crypto deals and opportunity for Coinbase to expand its power in the derivatives market, just as Ripple is expanding their acquisitions. I wouldn’t be surprised if this trend continues, especially with BTC’s price nearing that $100,000 line as well.”
Coinbase’s stock was up over 4% on the news.
The acquisition was “for roughly $2.9 billion in cash and stock,” The Wall Street Journal reported.
Matthew Sigel, head of digital assets at VanEck, said this was “crypto’s largest ever M&A” deal.
Deribit, the world’s biggest trading platform for bitcoin and ethereum options, saw a 95% year-over-year growth in total volumes to $1.185 trillion in 2024 from $608 billion in 2023, according to a company report.
The increase in activity was particularly significant in Q4, “as institutional investors demonstrated heightened optimism around the US presidential election,” Deribit CEO Luuk Strijers said.
Alan Orwick, cofounder of Quai Network, told Sherwood News that Coinbase’s acquisition, following Ripple’s acquisition of Hidden Road last month, underscores “a trend boosted by a pro-crypto administration and less fears of a bear market.”
He added, “With the Deribit acquisition, there’s another uptick in crypto deals and opportunity for Coinbase to expand its power in the derivatives market, just as Ripple is expanding their acquisitions. I wouldn’t be surprised if this trend continues, especially with BTC’s price nearing that $100,000 line as well.”
Coinbase’s stock was up over 4% on the news.
Coinbase, the largest crypto exchange in the US, reported first-quarter earnings today and missed both revenue and earnings-per-share estimates, sending shares lower in the aftermarket.
The company reported Q1 revenue of $2 billion, down 10% quarter over quarter, and earnings per share of $0.24, well below consensus estimates of $2.1 billion and $1.93 EPS, according to FactSet.
Meanwhile, transaction revenue was $1.3 billion, down 19% quarter over quarter.
Earlier today, Coinbase announced the acquisition of Deribit, the world’s biggest trading platform for bitcoin and ethereum options, for a massive $2.9 billion — the biggest crypto deal ever.
Mark Palmer, managing director at Benchmark Equity Research, told Sherwood News that while Coinbase’s subscription and services revenue was a bit light during the quarter, “it feels like we’re picking nits when the company this morning announced the largest deal ever in the digital assets space.”
“The Deribit deal is poised to boost Coinbase both in terms of its international presence and its institutional offering, so a few million less revenue than consensus on the subscription and services line shouldn’t matter in the bigger picture,” he added.
The deal “outshines even Ripple’s Hidden Road acquisition from just two weeks ago,” Nic Puckin, founder of Coin Bureau, said.
In its shareholder letter, Coinbase also thanked the crypto-friendly administration, citing several milestones like the executive order to establish a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, and said, “Advancements in bipartisan crypto legislation demonstrated progress toward clearer frameworks.”
“The dismissal of the SEC lawsuit against Coinbase marked a major judicial win for balanced, innovation-friendly regulation, and our efforts to make crypto mainstream,” the shareholder letter reads.
Last month, Benchmark Equity Research initiated coverage of the company, assigning a “buy” rating and a $252 price target, an over 25% premium from current prices.
MARA Holdings, the second-largest corporate bitcoin holder after Strategy reported earnings today, missed analyst estimates. The stock dipped 3% in after-hours trading.
The bitcoin mining company reported revenue of $214 million, a 30% year-over-year increase but below the consensus estimate of $216 million.
MARA reported adjusted losses per share of $1.44, which was far worse than the consensus estimate of $0.13.
Bitcoin holdings increased 174% year over year to 47,531 from 17,320 at the end of Q1 2024. In April, MARA increased its bitcoin holdings to 48,237 bitcoin.
“Although we recognized a loss in Q1 based on a quarter end bitcoin price of $82,534, the current bitcoin price of approximately $100,000 would imply a substantial fair value gain in excess of the fair market value loss recognized in Q1 2025,” the company said in its shareholder letter.
The bitcoin mining company reported revenue of $214 million, a 30% year-over-year increase but below the consensus estimate of $216 million.
MARA reported adjusted losses per share of $1.44, which was far worse than the consensus estimate of $0.13.
Bitcoin holdings increased 174% year over year to 47,531 from 17,320 at the end of Q1 2024. In April, MARA increased its bitcoin holdings to 48,237 bitcoin.
“Although we recognized a loss in Q1 based on a quarter end bitcoin price of $82,534, the current bitcoin price of approximately $100,000 would imply a substantial fair value gain in excess of the fair market value loss recognized in Q1 2025,” the company said in its shareholder letter.
Bitcoin passed the $100,000 price point today, the first time it’s hit the symbolic mark since early February. While Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s comments yesterday didn’t make the price budge, President Donald Trump’s post teasing the impending UK-US trade deal and the subsequent announcement have done the trick.
Nic Puckrin, founder of Coin Bureau, said the market cares much more about the rhetoric around tariffs than anything else. “President Trump has just thrown risk assets a big lifeline,” he said.
Meanwhile, Geoff Kendrick, global head of digital assets research at Standard Chartered Bank, wrote that bitcoin is about to hit a fresh all-time high.
“My specific target of USD120k for Q2 looks very achievable,” Kendrick wrote today.
Kendrick attributes this to bitcoin’s changing narrative, from correlation to risk assets to “a way to position for strategic asset reallocation out of US assets” and now to being “all about flows.”
“Today’s announcement of US tariff concessions for the UK is great news for the crypto industry, which, like global markets, has been suffering from the uncertainty sweeping US trade tariffs have created,” Charles Wayn, cofounder of Web3 growth platform Galxe, said. “Indeed, this uncertainty halted a crypto bull market many thought would last until at least July, and has particularly impacted altcoins, which have not had the rally the industry and investors had hoped they would have this cycle.”
Bitcoin’s market cap, at $1.98 trillion, also flipped Alphabet’s market cap, at $1.88 trillion, today.
SOL Strategies, Upexi, and DeFi Development Corp are acquiring millions of dollars of solana to stockpile.
On the heels of the announcement that the top 220 holders of $TRUMP would get an invite for a dinner with President Trump, Bloomberg found that “more of 76% of the token value held among the top 220 wallets likely belongs to foreign owners because the wallets used exchanges that are not available to US residents.”
The invitation for the dinner notes that “you cannot be from a KYC watchlist country” and that “you must pass a background check after selection,” but it doesn’t state how it will conduct these checks.
As Bloomberg noted, “The prevalence of these likely foreign buyers echoes concerns that congressional Democrats have expressed about the ethics of marketing the coin with a promise of presidential access.”
Countries the Financial Action Task Force considers high-risk include North Korea, Myanmar, and Iran.
Yesterday, Sen. Richard Blumenthal sent a letter to Fight Fight Fight LLC (the company behind $TRUMP) saying that the dinner might violate government ethics requirements and facilitate “financial transactions with foreign nationals under federal prosecution.”
Fellow Democrat Sen. Chris Murphy announced he was introducing the MEME Act on Tuesday “to ban a President or Member of Congress from issuing a meme coin. The Trump Coin is the biggest corruption scandal in the history of the White House.”
Meanwhile, not all $TRUMP holders have been winners. Out of approximately 2 million wallets, a meager 58 wallets “have made over $10 million each” from the token, totaling $1.1 billion in profits, according to CNBC. A whopping 764,000 wallets lost money.
The invitation to the dinner at Trump National Golf Club in Washington, DC, is set for May 22 (which is also bitcoin Pizza Day). The top 25 holders will also get “an ultra-exclusive private VIP reception with the President” and a “Special Tour.” Bloomberg’s analysis found that all but six of the top 25 holders are foreign.
$TRUMP, with a $2.1 billion market cap, was launched on the eve of the presidential inauguration. Since then, it has enjoyed some spikes, namely around Inauguration Day and after the “exclusive dinner” announcement, but the token is down 85% since its all-time high on January 19.
The invitation for the dinner notes that “you cannot be from a KYC watchlist country” and that “you must pass a background check after selection,” but it doesn’t state how it will conduct these checks.
As Bloomberg noted, “The prevalence of these likely foreign buyers echoes concerns that congressional Democrats have expressed about the ethics of marketing the coin with a promise of presidential access.”
Countries the Financial Action Task Force considers high-risk include North Korea, Myanmar, and Iran.
Yesterday, Sen. Richard Blumenthal sent a letter to Fight Fight Fight LLC (the company behind $TRUMP) saying that the dinner might violate government ethics requirements and facilitate “financial transactions with foreign nationals under federal prosecution.”
Fellow Democrat Sen. Chris Murphy announced he was introducing the MEME Act on Tuesday “to ban a President or Member of Congress from issuing a meme coin. The Trump Coin is the biggest corruption scandal in the history of the White House.”
Meanwhile, not all $TRUMP holders have been winners. Out of approximately 2 million wallets, a meager 58 wallets “have made over $10 million each” from the token, totaling $1.1 billion in profits, according to CNBC. A whopping 764,000 wallets lost money.
The invitation to the dinner at Trump National Golf Club in Washington, DC, is set for May 22 (which is also bitcoin Pizza Day). The top 25 holders will also get “an ultra-exclusive private VIP reception with the President” and a “Special Tour.” Bloomberg’s analysis found that all but six of the top 25 holders are foreign.
$TRUMP, with a $2.1 billion market cap, was launched on the eve of the presidential inauguration. Since then, it has enjoyed some spikes, namely around Inauguration Day and after the “exclusive dinner” announcement, but the token is down 85% since its all-time high on January 19.
Coinbase surges on $2.9 billion deal for biggest bitcoin options platform – Sherwood News
