Coinbase Announces Acquisition Of Crypto Investment Platform Echo

Coinbase has acquired the crypto investment platform Echo, strengthening its position in enabling community-driven funding for startups and early-stage projects.

Coinbase announced that the deal is worth $375 million and that the new company is part of its expansion plans in the industry. The acquisition is coming barely 24 hours after Coinbase sent $25 million worth of USDC to Cobie’s wallet to revive his UpOnly podcast and acquire and burn a non-fungible token (NFT).

Echo Is Focused On Early-Stage Investing

In a statement on X, Echo’s founder, Cobie, commented on Coinbase’s deal to buy the platform. “I certainly didn’t think echo would be sold to Coinbase, but here we are: today, Coinbase bought echo for $375m”, Cobie said.

The acquisition comes just two years after Cobie built Echo in beta, highlighting Echo’s rapid emergence. At launch, his goal was to offer communities new opportunities to invest together in private funding rounds.

Supporting its mission, the platform raised about $51 million in funding in its first eight months of operation, closing 131 deals. Among these was a notable deal with Ethena, a synthetic dollar protocol and one of the fastest-growing yield-bearing stablecoins on the market.

Cobie said Echo’s first fundraising project was Ethena, underscoring the firm’s focus on early-stage investing. Earlier this year, Echo rolled out a software product, Sonar, which enables founders to self-host public token sales using various blockchains, including Cardano, Solana, Base, and Hyperliquid.

Cobie says that despite the sale of Echo, the firm will continue operating as a standalone brand; meanwhile, Sonar will be integrated into Coinbase.

He added that the integration will enable the platform to ensure more direct community participation and facilitate joining projects with capital, all completely on-chain.

Stakeholders Are Calling For ICO Revival

Coinbase’s acquisition of Echo marks a growing trend toward community fundraising, reflecting a similar movement seen in 2017 during the ICO boom. Recently, a Tiger Research report revealed that public sales are returning in a new form, led by launchpads such as Kaito, Sona, Buildpad, and Legion.

The research points out that the 2017 ICO boom waned due to vague information and fraud, pushing the market toward private sales. Now, with platforms like Sona, the landscape is shifting again as public sales gradually reappear.

However, it is not clear whether this recent interest and boom is influenced by short-term hype. If the surge is indeed due to hype, interest may soon cool. Still, observers believe that structural demand mainly drives public launchpads. Tiger Research notes that launchpads are essential for projects to ensure liquidity and attract early users.

 

While it’s not clear how long public token sales may hold sway, some top figures linked to the Trump administration are calling for the revival of ICOs. Zak Folkman, co-founder of the Trump family’s crypto venture World Liberty Financial, has also been calling for the revival of ICOs. “We want to make ICOs great again,” he said in a recent interview, underscoring the continued ambition to reshape the landscape of digital fundraising.