Coinbase Denies Report of $150M Acquisition of Tagomi Brokerage Firm

Coinbase, a major American cryptocurrency exchange and wallet service, has not acquired digital currency brokerage firm Tagomi.

On Nov. 29, sources told CoinDesk that Coinbase acquired Tagomi for $150 million that morning, following purported negotiations between the firms last month. According to The Block, Tagomi’s lending and borrowing services made it a tempting target for an acquisition.

Responding to Cointelegraph’s request for comment on the purported acquisition, Coinbase VP of communications Rachael Horwitz simply said, “100% false.”

Tagomi had reportedly been targeting more retail trading clients, high-net-worth individuals and active traders in recent months, which put it in competition with Coinbase’s professional offering, Coinbase Pro. A hypothetical merge would thus help Coinbase Pro enhance its share in the cryptocurrency market. 

Tagomi expands its services

Tagomi, meanwhile, has been actively expanding its services. The firm recently partnered with Binance’s cryptocurrency trading platform for United States-based users, Binance.US. The cooperation enables Binance.US to offer institutional liquidity for Tagomi’s users, including quant funds, venture funds, family offices, individual retirement accounts and high-net-worth individuals.

In September, Tagomi enabled its users to lend or borrow Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) to facilitate long or short trades.

Tagomi also secured a BitLicense from the New York State Department of Financial Services in late March, which made it legally authorized to trade virtual currency assets and to engage in money transmission in the state.

This spring, the firm secured $12 million in a funding round with investors including the Paradigm Fund and crypto industry giant Pantera Capital.