Are Coinbase Global's Strategic Acquisitions Powering Growth?

Coinbase Global COIN is increasingly leaning on inorganic growth, and its acquisition story is impressive.  COIN’s targeted acquisitions are broadening its capabilities, diversifying revenues, and expanding its geographical presence. In the rapidly evolving digital asset market, these deals provide Coinbase with accelerated entry into growth verticals such as derivatives, DeFi, tokenization and institutional services.

The most transformative move came with the recent $2.9 billion purchase of Deribit, a leading crypto derivatives exchange. This acquisition establishes Coinbase as a global force in futures, options and perpetuals, complementing its spot exchange and adding recurring, institutionally friendly revenue streams. 

The July 2025 acquisition of Liquifi, a token management platform, extended Coinbase’s reach into tokenization and digital cap table solutions—laying the foundation for a potential U.S. launchpad once regulatory clarity emerges. Its earlier acquisitions, including One River Digital (now Coinbase Asset Management), strengthened institutional offerings, while the Iron Fish acquisition bolstered advanced cryptographic expertise within its Base network.

These acquisitions not only diversify Coinbase’s revenue mix (steadily expanding its subscriptions and services revenues) but also accelerate institutional adoption and solidify its trajectory toward becoming a full-stack financial operating system for crypto. Funding is balanced through cash and equity, supported by a robust balance sheet of more than $7 billion in cash and digital assets.

While integration and regulatory headwinds remain challenges, Coinbase’s disciplined acquisition strategy enhances its competitive moat and supports CEO Brian Armstrong’s ambition to build the industry’s premier “everything exchange.”

What About its Peers?

Robinhood Markets HOOD is driving growth through strategic acquisitions that broaden its offerings, boost global crypto reach and enhance institutional services. Robinhood’s deals for Bitstamp, WonderFi and Pluto Capital highlight its expansion into international markets and AI innovation. With these moves, Robinhood is diversifying revenues and reinforcing its long-term scalability.

Interactive Brokers Group’s IBKR strategic acquisitions helped expand services, improve technology and grow its client network. Interactive Brokers’ acquisitions of FutureTrade, Covestor and Folio’s retail accounts enhanced its trading, wealth management and retail presence. With these strategic moves, Interactive Brokers strengthened its competitiveness and positioned itself for sustainable long-term expansion.

COIN’s Price Performance

Shares of COIN have gained 20.9% year to date, outperforming the industry.

COIN’s Expensive Valuation

COIN trades at a price-to-earnings value ratio of 48.52, above the industry average of 24.3. But it carries a Value Score of F.

Estimate Movement for COIN

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for COIN’s third-quarter 2025 EPS has moved 10.7% north, while that for fourth-quarter 2025 EPS has moved down 0.4% over the past 30 days. The same for full-year 2025 has increased 93.6% while that for 2026 has decreased 6.8%.

The consensus estimates for COIN’s 2025 and 2026 revenues indicate year-over-year increases. The consensus estimates for COIN’s 2025 and 2026 EPS indicate a decline.  

COIN stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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