Coinbase isn’t done shopping. After closing its $2.9 billion acquisition of Deribit, the largest deal the crypto industry has ever seen, CEO Brian Armstrong has made it clear the company plans to keep buying.
The Deribit deal, announced on May 8, 2025, and closed on August 14, 2025, combined $700 million in cash with approximately 11 million shares of Coinbase Class A stock. By the time the transaction actually closed, the stock component had appreciated enough to push the deal’s total value to roughly $4.3 billion.
Why Deribit matters
Deribit isn’t just any crypto exchange. Founded in 2016, it commanded approximately 75% of crypto options open interest at the time Coinbase came knocking.
The numbers back it up. In July 2025, just weeks before the deal closed, Deribit posted record trading volumes exceeding $185 billion with roughly $60 billion in open interest.
