Coinbase acquires Earn.com as it attempts to become the Google of the Cryptocurrency Industry
In news out yesterday, Coinbase announced it was acquiring Earn.com.
Earn.com is a paid messaging service that uses blockchain technology.
They are said to be one of the few companies that have realized a real world use case for blockchain technology thus far and been able to make money off of it.
This is significant in a space where most use cases are still in the theoretical stages.
The terms of the deal were not made public, but it is being reported that Coinbase paid somewhere in the neighborhood of $100 million for the acquisition according to those close to the situation.
Wanting more than just the business?
The rumors are flying that Coinbase made the purchase because they had their eye on specific talent involved with the company.
Specifically, CEO Balaji Srinivasan.
Srinivasan holds a BS, MS, and PhD in Electrical Engineering and a MS in Chemical Engineering. Even more importantly than those though, he is known as the evangelist of Blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies.
Previously Srinivasan worked with Adreessen Horowitz and has many ties in the crypto universe.
He will immediately come on and serve as the CTO at Coinbase and he will also be responsible for bringing in new talent to the company via many of his connections.
This marks the first time Coinbase has had a CTO.
(Source: https://www.recode.net/2018/4/16/17242796/coinbase-acquisition-earn-balaji-srinivasan)
This continues the recent trend of hiring top level talent at Coinbase.
In December, Coinbase hired David Marcus, a former PayPal and Facebook executive as one of the Board of Directors.
Then, just last week, Coinbase hired Rachel Horowitz to serve as Vice President of Communications.
Previously she worked for Twitter and Facebook as well, serving as the Director of Technology Communications.
Though perhaps the hire that we are seeing have the most impact thus far is that of Emilie Choi.
She was brought on as the Vice President of Corporate and Business Development.
She previously worked at Linkedln where she oversaw a total of 40 M&A related transactions.
The acquisitions have been coming fast and furious.
Coinbase has made several acquisitions in the past few weeks alone. Though this is certainly one of their biggest to date.
Coinbase is chugging right along with their stated goal of becoming the "Google of the cryptocurrency space".
More about the recent purchase can be found here:
https://cointelegraph.com/news/coinbase-acquires-earncom-and-hires-ceo-as-chief-technology-officer
Stay informed my friends.
Follow me: @jrcornel
Thanks for the info. STEEM ON! 🤗💰🤗
Still waiting for them to add Ripple to their mix.
The fact that they have not added any new coins to their lineup does not bode well for this sector.
They have stated publicly they need more clarity from regulators on what is a security and what is not before they can add many more.
Coinbase has recognized its competition and wants to continue to stay on top. They have plenty of VC backing because they know they are on the tail end of a ton of innovation and investment to come. Coinbase could get as big as Google, yes if they play there cards right. Hopefully they start to add more tokens as crypto grows to a $2 trillion market cap valuation.
Yes, good point. I think they correctly realize that their days as the number one cryptocurrency exchange are likely numbered. Which means they need to diversify their income streams if they want to remain at the top of the food chain.
exactly
I would agree with that statement. It's tough to say what direction the industry as a whole will move in. Applications like Earn.com are excellent, but this is an industry known for large, rapid shifts. This could make it difficult to diversify.
hopefully coinbase can take over the other exchanges but not when binance has not stopped adding other streams of income like their coin. It is possible though but the competition is tight.
I have been a member of earn.com for a while now, I get paid for paying attention, replying and reading my mail. It's the greatest tool so far in cleaning the ad clattered internet.
What is the pay like?
i'm also a member of earn.com. The payment is in bitcoin. So you're sent a short survey and you fill afterwards you're paid according to your set contact price instantly.
About $60 a month... not much when you are not subscribed to worthier lists. However, it helps bounce unimportant e-mails
That is interesting. I will have to take a look at this. Any tips for getting started on there?
Just sign up and subscribe to lists that relate to you. Browse the lists available and observe what fits
I think we can all agree that this is good news for the short and intermediate term; Coinbase is almost the sole gateway between Fiat and crypto, and if it grows, that's just bullish :-) Still, like many have said here already: we don't need more centralization and we most certainly don't need a new Google! That's why I'm even more bullish about the recent efforts of competitors like Binance and Bittrex to also introduce Fiat trading pairs. And of course walhalla would be a decentralized version of that, which they are also working on.
Thanks for this, @jrcornel; you've given us one more reason to be optimistic about growth in crypto-space!
Yes good points. Though I see this more as Coinbase recognizing that they likely won't stay the number one crypto exchange for much longer and transaction fees are likely going to be coming down. So, they are diversifying their revenue streams to protect themselves when that time comes.
I think you're right, especially when you combine this news with the announcement that they wil be adding erc20 token support in the coming months; Coinbase is reacting to all this. All things considered: very bullish news indeed :-)
I think that the underlying theme is that capital will continue to flow into the market, mostly to the companies supporting infrastructure that will lead to increased adoption and awareness. This is bullish as the innovation will lead to improving the customer experience in the crypto world which will ultimately lead to demand in the asset class.
My thoughts as well. Very well said.
Google has lost a lot of credibility for me in the last few years.
let's hope CoinBase isn't trying to be JUST like Google in some ways.
Agreed. Google knows too much. Though if Coinbase builds their businesses based on blockchains, perhaps they won't gather much in the way of private information like Google has?
in my opinion the problem with google is that it trys to influence.
I hear that The Onion Router is a thing.
I wonder if there might be some possibilities there?
Ah yes, "TOR". It will be interesting to see what comes of that. I read about it briefly a little while back.
CoinBase IS trying to be just like Boogle. Look at who is owning/workign with them.
Do Be Evil
Haha yes they are. The talent they are bringing in is very impressive, to say the least.
Coinbase making moves.
Coinbase continues to amaze. ..
Coinbase needs to figure out their customer service issues and have more coin offerings. Until then Binance will be the challenger to the "google of crypto" space. Especially seeing that Binance is making strides to their DEX and I believe they will offer fiat entry to BNB which would almost make Coinbase obsolete. While Coinbase currently is positioned as a leader in this space, they are also in a position to become obsolete. The next few months will determine if they can remain the competitive edge.