Los Angeles (CoinChapter) – United States-based crypto exchange Coinbase announced that it acquiring crypto data analytics platform Skew. Financial terms of the purchase were not disclosed. It is subject to customary closing conditions, with the expectation of closing in Coinbase’s second fiscal quarter of 2021.
Skew was founded in 2018 with the goal of making crypto markets more accessible to institutional investors. Since then, it has amassed more than 100 customers, including hedge fund One River Asset Management.
Several of the firm’s executives had come from major U.S. institutions such as JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and Citi. Earlier this month, Skew launched a trade execution platform, raising $5 million in a funding round led by London-based venture capitalists Octopus Ventures.
Skew will be integrated with Coinbase Pro, enabling the crypto exchange to provide up-to-date analytics to its institutional clients.
“We’re excited to integrate skew’s data analytics platform with Coinbase Prime, allowing our customers to track cryptocurrency spot and derivatives markets in real-time,” said Greg Tusar, the vice president of institutional products at Coinbase.
“With skew, we’ll arm professional traders with dynamic, aggregated market data, presented in a highly actionable format, all within our market leading prime brokerage.”
Coinbase has been a client of Skew since its launch a little more than two years ago. “We have not only developed a strong, positive relationship with the Coinbase team but have witnessed first-hand their impressive product-led culture, focus on compliance and commitment to the institutional space,” Tusar added.
Skew the latest company Coinbase has acquired
The acquisition of Skew comes just a couple of weeks since Coinbase went public on the Nasdaq. The listing helped the company sell hundreds of COIN shares, generating millions of dollars in revenue.
Even prior to that, Coinbase had been actively acquiring companies to boost its portfolio. Earlier in January, the crypto exchange purchased blockchain infrastructure provider Bison Trails for a reported $80 million. The transaction was made to secure a “foundational element” within its growing ecosystem of products.
Previously, Coinbase acquired trading execution startup Routefire to further improve its Coinbase Prime suite of tools and services.
High interest from institutional investors
At the end of March, Coinbase had $112 billion of assets from institutions, which is more than half of the total assets held on its platform ($223 billion).
Institutional trade volume has outpaced retail trades since the second quarter of 2019. By the fourth quarter of last year, the split grew to 64% of trade coming from institutions.
