The US-based exchange is making strategic acquisitions and is set to become the fifth FANG: the King of the blockchain world.

The height of the bull market is not where the fortunes are made. They may be realised there, cashed out, but the foundations are laid long before that. That’s true for investors and it’s true for businesses. Coinbase has been steadily growing its userbase and ecosystem for years. It is already one of the pre-eminent exchanges in the crypto world, but right now it appears to be positioning to become something greater. Just as Google is now far more than a search engine, Coinbase is laying the groundwork to become a giant of crypto.

Coinbase just bought Earn.com, which evolved out of 21 Inc – an ill-fated venture that tried to launch developer-focused bitcoin computers, a bit like a mining Raspberry Pi. But Earn rebranded and pivoted, and Coinbase just picked it up for around $120 million. Earn’s co-founder and CEO will now become Coinbase’s CTO, and its core business will be integrated with Coinbase’s. Earn’s current leading product is a paid email platform, which Coinbase recognises as ‘arguably one of the earliest practical blockchain applications to achieve meaningful traction.’

Coinbase also recently bought Cipher Browser, a mobile Ethereum wallet. Add this to their recent massive hiring spree, and the indications are that the company is putting the pieces together for a well-planned crypto empire.

You may be watch their rise with awe, or your may lament the centralisation of the ecosystem that will inevitably result. Either way, watch them: within five years, they will be the next FANG (Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, Google).

Read more: https://www.coindesk.com/coinbase-just-bought-one-of-bitcoins-biggest-startups/

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