In a significant move aimed at enhancing its offerings within the Solana ecosystem, Coinbase has announced the acquisition of Vector, a social meme coin trading application developed by the creators of the NFT marketplace Tensor. This strategic acquisition is set to improve Coinbase’s decentralized exchange (DEX) trading integrations and broaden access to on-chain markets, particularly for Solana assets.
Max Branzburg, Coinbase’s vice president of product, expressed enthusiasm about the acquisition on social media platform X, stating, “We’ve long supported Solana across our product portfolio, but we’re excited to double down and build towards enabling all Solana assets on Coinbase with state-of-the-art trading by default.” He underlined the importance of integrating Vector’s technology to accelerate Coinbase’s vision of facilitating rapid trading for every Solana asset as it comes onto the market.
While the terms of the deal were not disclosed, a Coinbase representative indicated that the acquisition would not significantly impact the company’s finances. Vector, which was launched last year, focuses on meme coin trading, tapping into the social aspects of cryptocurrency transactions.
As part of the acquisition, ownership of the Tensor marketplace and the TNSR token will transition to the Tensor Foundation, separating these assets from Coinbase’s operations. Notably, Coinbase will maintain independence from the upcoming Tensor NFT marketplace and the TNSR token, despite the latter’s recent price surge of over 300% in a week, coinciding with speculation about increased buying activity before the announcement.
Currently priced at $0.19, the TNSR token remains significantly below its all-time high of $2.28. As a result of the acquisition deal, about 22% of unvested TNSR tokens will be permanently burned, reducing the circulating supply, while additional vesting tokens have been re-locked for a further three years.
For existing users of Vector, the mobile and desktop applications will be phased out, with a deadline set for November 26 to transfer assets. Users who miss this deadline will have a four-year window to export their private keys to a new wallet.
This acquisition marks the ninth such deal for Coinbase in 2023, following its $375 million purchase of the crypto fundraising platform Echo last month. Recently, Coinbase opted not to proceed with talks to acquire stablecoin platform BVNK, which was estimated to be valued around $2 billion.
On the stock market front, shares of Coinbase have shown a slight decline of about 2% on Friday, yet they are still up over 31% in the past month, trading around $233.
