The move by Coinbase may point to a potentially burgeoning new stage of mergers and acquisitions in cryptocurrencies. One of the biggest deals yet was Circle Internet Financial Ltd.’s acquisition last month of Poloniex Inc. for a reported $400 million, but deals have generally been few and far between. Coinbase has more than 10 million clients, and owns a digital wallet and trading platform. The company has been under growing strain as huge inflow of clients -- it added more than 100,000 accounts in just one day late last year -- has caused outages and slowed down service. It’s raised more than $217 million from venture firms including Andreessen Horowitz, Union Square Ventures and Y Combinator.

https://www.bloomberg.com/amp/news/articles/2018-03-05/coinbase-hires-linkedin-s-deals-maven-to-help-ramp-up-expansion