Coinbase has grown to a $1.6B valuation without any major acquisitions during their 6-year run, but their newest hire is a sign that may be changing.
Yesterday, the crypto trading platform announced they’ll be bringing on former head of mergers and acquisitions at LinkedIn, Emilie Choi, as their VP of corporate and business development.
The coins they are a boomin’
Choi did more than 40 deals while heading up LinkedIn’s M&A unit, and says her first focus will be on “acquihires” — acquiring companies with the main focus of bringing on the people who run them.
According to Recode, the company will eventually make the push into buying wholesale businesses, but for now, Choi says their main focus is “getting in as much talent as possible” to help them manage the 10x increase in transaction volume Coinbase has seen in the past year.
Is there an IPO on the horizon?
On top of Choi, Coinbase reportedly wants to double their headcount to around 500. They also announced their hunt for a CFO back in February, leading to speculation about the company’s plans to IPO in the near future.
What, no ICO?