Coinbase, a major player in the cryptocurrency exchange space, has announced the acquisition of ECHO, a well-known on-chain capital-raising platform, for $375 million. The company shared this news in a blog post on Tuesday.
ECHO is an investment platform that makes it easier for community members to raise funds and invest, whether through a private sale or a public offering utilizing Sonar. By partnering with ECHO, Coinbase aims to simplify fundraising for startups and help them grow, while also giving communities early access to unique investment opportunities. The platform is rooted in the belief in democratizing early-stage investing so that more people can support the next generation of breakthrough companies.
Founded by Cobie, a respected figure in the crypto community and a strong advocate for community-driven investing, ECHO has raised over $200 million for about 300 projects since its inception. Over the years, it has pioneered tools that promote more inclusive, transparent, and efficient fundraising. Coinbase revealed that the acquisition is part of its broader plan to create more accessible, efficient, and transparent capital markets.
Over time, startups usually struggle to raise capital, and individual investors typically lack opportunities to participate in private token sales. ECHO addresses these issues by allowing projects to raise funds directly from their communities, either through private sales or by hosting public token sales via Sonar. Additionally, by integrating ECHO’s trading tools, Coinbase intends to enable more direct community involvement, connecting projects with capital entirely on-chain.
Coinbase launch strategic investment in CoinDCX
It’s worth noting that this development comes barely a week after the exchange launched a strategic investment in CoinDCX, an exchange based in Indian and the Middle East regions. As revealed, the partnership between Coinbase and CoinDCX was to foster the widespread adoption of cryptocurrency in India.
In August, Coinbase also announced a $2 billion convertible senior notes offering. According to Coinbase, the initiative will be a private offering that includes two tranches of $1 billion, with both maturing in 2029 and 2032. In July, the exchange also partnered with Perplexity, an AI-powered research tool to help traders enjoy access to real-time crypto market data.
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