Coinbase’s takeover talks with 2TM break down

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase’s takeover talks with Brazil-based crypto brokerage 2TM Participacoes, which would have boosted Coinbase’s international expansion, have broken down, Bloomberg has reported. The reason for the negotiations falling through is unclear.

2TM is the parent company of Mercado Bitcoin, the largest crypto exchange in Latin America, and the deal could have resulted in Coinbase taking either a majority or a minority stake.

Though a setback, the breakdown is not likely to slow Coinbase’s ambitions for the Brazilian market, having announced a new country head – former Uber Eats director and vice-president of digital wallet PicPay’s marketplace Fábio Tonetto Plein – late last month. A company spokesperson told Bloomberg Coinbase remained committed to Brazil and the local tech and business leadership it now has in place.

Brazil is not the only market where Coinbase has been looking to make inroads. Last month it was reported that Coinbase was also in talks to acquire Turkish crypto exchange BtcTurk in a deal that could be worth $3.2bn.

Coinbase has also expanded its engineering presence across markets including India, Canada and Singapore,  according to a shareholder letter, and believes the international expansion will increase its monthly tracked users.

2TM raised a lot of funding recently. Nasdaq-listed e-commerce and financial technology services firm Mercado Libre made an investment of undisclosed size in 2TM in January this year, and SoftBank’s Latin America Fund provided the company with $200m in series B funding in July last year at a $2.1bn valuation. It was described at the time as the largest series B to take place in Latin America. Crypto exchanges FTX and Kraken later took part in a $50.3m extension round in November alongside 10T and Tribe Capital.

With funding coming in, 2TM has been making its own investments. It led a $2m seed round for non-fungible token artwork marketplace Tropix with backing from Mago Capital in October last year, and more recently took part in a $4.1m seed round for digital commodity exchange Gavea Marketplace in January.