Coinbase eyes more deals after $2.9B Deribit acquisition

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong says his firm will continue to look for merger and acquisition opportunities after acquiring crypto derivatives platform Deribit.

“We are always looking at M&A opportunities,” said Armstrong on Bloomberg Television on May 14.

He added that the firm has a large balance sheet that can be put to use.

The firm revealed in its latest revenue report that its balance sheet has strengthened, ending the first quarter with $9.9 billion in US dollar resources.

“Part of the benefit of being a public company is, you have a liquid currency to do that,” he said, adding: “We are looking at acquisition opportunities; doesn’t mean we swing at every pitch. We want it to be the right opportunity.”

On May 8, the firm announced that it agreed to acquire crypto options trading platform Deribit in a transaction worth $2.9 billion that consisted of $700 million in cash and 11 million shares of Coinbase stock

The acquisition, the largest in the crypto industry so far, will allow Coinbase to expand into the profitable crypto derivatives market and continue scaling the platform’s global growth.

Armstrong told the outlet that he is looking particularly at international opportunities, “companies that think similar,” and can accelerate Coinbase’s product development and growth. 

Related: Coinbase’s Deribit buy shows growing derivatives market

However, the crypto executive said he had nothing to announce when asked about a potential acquisition of stablecoin issuer and Coinbase partner, Circle, which has filed to go public. 

In late April, US fintech firm Ripple bid up to $5 billion in an effort to acquire the stablecoin issuer, but the offer was rejected, reported Bloomberg. 

Coinbase will become the first crypto firm to join the coveted S&P 500 index on May 19.  

The S&P 500 is a stock market index that tracks the performance of 500 of the largest publicly traded companies in the US, and potentially opens up their stock to a broader investor base and exposure to passive funds that track the benchmark.

Coinbase shares closed the day up 2.5%, reaching $263 in after-hours trading, according to Google Finance. The company’s stock (COIN) has surged more than 30% since the start of May, buoyed by two major announcements, and is up nearly 50% over the past month.

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