Coinbase has acqui-hired the two founders of Sensible, a crypto yield-earning platform, as part of its push to build what it calls the "everything exchange." The pair, Jacob Frantz and Zachary Salmon, will join Coinbase as Sensible winds down operations.
Founded in 2022 and backed by Coinbase Ventures and Dragonfly, Sensible let users earn yields through staking rewards as well as through DeFi protocols. At Coinbase, Frantz and Salmon will focus on advancing the company’s onchain consumer strategy.
"The pair bring unique expertise in building DeFi-powered consumer applications and will lead key teams shaping our onchain consumer strategy," Coinbase said. "Onboarding more users to the onchain economy requires simplifying access to DeFi, and the team’s experience will help strip complexities, elevate use cases, and make crypto that much easier for our users."
Frantz and Salmon said they will continue their focus on making crypto something people can use, not just own. Sensible will shut down in October, with users required to withdraw funds by Oct. 10. It is not clear what will happen to the rest of Sensible’s employees; its LinkedIn page shows the startup employed between two and 10 people. A Coinbase spokesperson declined to comment on the broader employee base, saying the scope of the deal was limited to the founders.
The Sensible deal is Coinbase’s seventh of 2025, adding to full acquisitions of token management platform Liquifi, web3 adtech firm Spindl, and crypto derivatives exchange Deribit, alongside acqui-hires of Iron Fish, Opyn, and Roam.
"At Coinbase, we believe the future of finance is onchain," the company said. "Our vision is clear: to make Coinbase an everything exchange, the gateway to a thriving onchain economy, and the best place to grow your money and manage everyday finances."
Coinbase's 'everything exchange' vision
Coinbase has recently laid out its ambition to become an "everything exchange" — a one-stop platform where users can trade, borrow, stake, spend, and earn. Plans include adding tokenized stocks, prediction markets, and early-stage token sales.
"We're building an exchange for everything," Max Branzburg, vice president of product at Coinbase, recently said. "Everything you want to trade, in a one-stop shop, on-chain. … We’re bringing all assets onchain — stocks, prediction markets, and more. We’re building the foundations for a faster, more accessible, more global economy."
Last month, Coinbase announced a decentralized exchange integration to give traders access to “millions” of digital assets not previously available on its platform. The move followed second-quarter results that showed revenue down 26% from the prior quarter, with transaction revenue falling 39% and spot trading volumes dropping more than 30%. The company also disclosed a highly publicized data theft that cost $307 million.
Coinbase shares, listed on Nasdaq, rose about 3% today to $311, giving the company a market cap of more than $80 billion, according to The Block's COIN price page.
