Deals
Coinbase, Circle Vie to Create Brokerages for Crypto Securities
- Coinbase announces takeover hours after report on rival’s plan
- ‘This is an important moment for the crypto ecosystem’
Employees work at the Coinbase Inc. office in San Francisco.
Photographer: Michael Short/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Two titans of U.S. cryptocurrency trading are in a race to build the nation’s first regulated venues for tokens deemed to be securities, potentially appeasing watchdogs threatening to rein in the multibillion-dollar market.
Coinbase Inc., one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges, said Wednesday that it’s buying a trio of firms including a broker-dealer registered with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. If U.S. regulators approve, Coinbase will use licenses its obtains to offer customers blockchain-based securities. It will also be subject to more federal oversight.