Coinbase acquires on-chain payment platform Utopia
Coinbase has acquired Utopia Labs to build the cryptocurrency exchange's on-chain payment infrastructure, Coinbase said on November 13.
The Utopia Labs team “will join Base, Coinbase's Layer 2 scaling network, to help accelerate our onchain payments roadmap in Coinbase Wallet,” Coinbase said in a blog post.
“There's a natural flywheel here: Base is supporting developers building onchain apps, those apps attract users to onchain, Wallet attracts those users, and in turn more users encourage more developers to build onchain,” Coinbase said.
Source: DeFillama
Related: Stripe is acquiring stablecoin platform Bridge in $1.1B deal
In the year Launched in 2023, Coinbase's Base is now the largest Ethereum (ETH) Layer 2 (L2) by Total Value Locked (TVL), according to DeFillama.
In October, Base TVL surpassed Arbitrum, the long-time leader among L2. Beth currently has about $3.15 billion in TVL, with about $2.9 billion in arbitrage, according to DeFillama data.
On September 12, Coinbase launched its own Bitcoin (BTC) wallet, cbBTC, on the base network.
cbBTC turned out to be one of the most popular BTC wrappers with TVL worth over $1.3 billion according to CoinMarketCap.
Utopia Labs created a platform for individuals and protocols to manage payments in crypto, especially stablecoins.
Acquisitions are on the rise in the Web3, with payment platforms emerging as desirable acquisition targets.
In October, payments giant Stripe acquired stablecoin platform Bridge in a $1.1 billion deal to deliver on an earlier promise to add support for stablecoin payments.
In the year On November 11, Coinbase's stock surpassed $300 for the first time since 2021, the biggest gain for US crypto stocks since Donald Trump's presidential election victory.
Coinbase's stock in 2018 It traded at about $290 per share as of Nov. 13, according to Google Finance data.
Michael Miller, an equity analyst at Morningstar Inc., said, “As the company struggles with SEC regulatory pressure, we see Coinbase benefiting from the election results.” 7 research note.
“With the incoming Donald Trump administration expected to be more favorable to the cryptocurrency industry, the company's stock trading will face less regulatory pressure,” Miller said.
“A less direct, more permissive approach to cryptocurrency will give cryptocurrency prices a tailwind.”
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