What remains uncertain is whether, after another round of prosperity for ICOs, there will be another crash.
Written by: Muyao Shen, Bloomberg
Translated by: Saoirse, Foresight News
Coinbase, a global company, has acquired the digital asset investment platform Echo for $375 million, evoking memories from not too long ago—during the boom less than a decade ago, thousands of cryptocurrency projects raised billions of dollars by selling tokens directly to investors.
Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) created the boom-and-bust cycles of the cryptocurrency market and introduced many investors to cryptocurrencies. In 2018, the speculative bubble burst rapidly, and regulators cracked down on rampant fraud, leading to a halt in token sales. Market participants believe that Coinbase's acquisition is a signal: old things are returning in a new form.
The shift in the market landscape began last year: Echo, founded by cryptocurrency trader and influencer Jordan Fish (better known by his alias Cobie), started facilitating private financing for cryptocurrency projects. Earlier this year, Echo launched Sonar, a tool supporting ICO-style fundraising. According to Coinbase, Echo has helped cryptocurrency projects raise approximately $200 million through over 300 transactions.
Shuyao Kong, co-founder of the blockchain project Megaeth, stated, "ICOs have quietly returned, but so far, they remain largely confined to the core cryptocurrency circle. Coinbase's acquisition of Echo changes this situation—it brings the ICO mechanism to a globally regulated audience." The project raised $10 million in just three minutes through Echo last year.
Christopher Perkins, president and managing partner of the New York-based venture capital fund CoinFund, pointed out that this acquisition also indicates a clear market demand for "fair, transparent, efficient, and competitive processes required for asset public listings."
The current optimism in the industry is closely related to signals released by Trump's second administration: regulators are formulating the first legal framework for the cryptocurrency industry in the U.S. while not intending to hinder what they define as "innovation."
Sandeep Nailwal, co-founder of Polygon, stated, "Since President Trump took office and regulatory restrictions in the cryptocurrency space were lifted, ICOs have become one of the first rapidly popularized innovative models in the crypto industry. It ensures that retail investors—rather than a few privileged investors—can access quality projects on the day of the project's launch, which is very valuable."
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong announced a preheating message on Monday to pave the way for this acquisition: the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the U.S. will relaunch the popular cryptocurrency podcast "Up Only" by Cobie. Coinbase paid $25 million for the NFT representing the rights to relaunch the podcast. The podcast has not updated its content since 2022. Similar to exercising options, to activate this NFT, Cobie needs to produce eight new podcast episodes.
Post by @brian_armstrong on X platform
Industry participants believe that the most significant implication of this acquisition is that it enhances Coinbase's competitiveness against Binance—currently the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, maintaining its industry-leading position. Binance already has several platforms, including Binance Launchpad, to help early cryptocurrency projects gain market liquidity for their tokens.
Santiago Roel Santos, founder and CEO of the crypto private equity firm Inversion, stated, "Acquiring Echo makes Coinbase's services more attractive to retail users—through Sonar, users can participate in private and public token sales. It will be interesting to see how Coinbase integrates Echo (especially Sonar) to allow retail users to participate more in early investments and token projects."
What remains uncertain is whether, after another round of prosperity for ICOs, there will be another crash.
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