Altcoin News: Coinbase May Acquire Ripple-Sponsored Startup Omni Rentals

October 7, 2019, by Marko Vidrih on ALTCOIN MAGAZINE

The American cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase is negotiating the purchase of the startup Omni Rentals, which in the past received investments from the fintech company Ripple.

Omni Rentals provides services for the temporary use of various goods and has recently carried out massive layoffs of employees, TechCrunch writes with reference to two sources familiar with the situation. Coinbase is interested in joining its Omni development team. It is assumed that they will be part of the Coinbase Earn division, whose service allows users to earn cryptocurrency for completing training programs on the exchange.

A Coinbase spokesman said that he is currently unable to formally confirm the details of the deal.

Having received $25 million from Ripple at the beginning of last year, Omni still has significant assets, but it doubts the prospects of its own platform. In May, Omni sold its warehouse business to SoftBank-sponsored competitor Clutter.

The exchange announced the launch of the Coinbase Earn platform last December. The program is currently available to residents of more than 100 countries.

Author: Marko Vidrih