Coinbase’s Wild Ride: Echo, $375M & the Return of the ICO Circus 🎪💰

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In the dim-lit offices, where dreams and dollar signs intertwine, Coinbase announced-quite unexpectedly-that it had acquired Echo, a crowdfunding platform, for a hefty $375 million. One might have thought they’d be busy with more pressing matters, but apparently, crypto never sleeps, not even in the shadows of doubt.

“I frankly didn’t see Echo being sold to Coinbase,” Cobie confessed on what used to be Twitter, now called X-because, why not?-with a laugh that echoed somewhere between irony and resignation. “But here we are: Coinbase bought Echo. Who would’ve guessed? Certainly not me, and I’ve seen some odd things in crypto.”

Two years ago, I started building Echo, thinking it had about a 95% chance of failing. Honestly, I couldn’t envision any other fate, but I thought maybe, just maybe, it would be a noble failure worth attempting. Now, it’s sold to Coinbase, and I’m not crying-well, maybe just a little. – Cobie (@cobie)

The Dream, The Deal, The Deep End

Echo launched in April 2024, a baby born into a world of frantic promises and digital hope. Within eight months, it managed to raise over $51 million across 131 deals-no small feat if you consider the chaos of crypto ventures, which is just a fancy way of saying ‘luck, luck, and more luck.’

One of its earliest and most ambitious projects was Ethena-a crypto protocol that spun out a stablecoin called USDe faster than most people can buy coffee. Ethena was the first to raise funds through Echo, a feat that Cobie claims made Echo a revenue-generating machine-somewhere around $37,000, enough to make him feel like a millionaire (at least in his own mind).

The first project to fundraise via Echo was Ethena. Today, Echo’s revenue hit $37K-woohoo, I’m practically rich now! Thanks to Ethena, the project leaders, and all the Echo users who believed in it. Onward, into the abyss! – Cobie

By May, Echo unveiled Sonar-a software designed to let startup founders hold public token sales on various blockchains like Base, Solana, Cardano, and Hyperliquid. Because, of course, why not turn fundraising into an open-air market? The plan was to keep Echo as a “standalone” entity-because losing independence is so last century-while Coinbase weaves Sonar into its own fabric, promising a more direct connection between creators and investors, possibly over a cup of coffee or a Zoom call that might or might not get hacked.

“With Echo’s tools, we hope to enable a more direct community participation, joining projects with capital-all onchain,” claimed Coinbase in its press release, which sounds a lot like ‘we’re just getting started.’ The plan sounds as ambitious as a cat trying to catch a laser pointer-looks promising until it suddenly darts away. Over time, they plan to support tokenized securities and even real-world assets, which sounds like trying to put a suit on a fish-technically possible, but painfully complicated.

Market analysts, always eager for a new season of the same old show, see this as part of a comeback of ICO-style fundraising, reborn with shinier tools and, hopefully, less scandal. According to Tiger Research, these public token sales, led by launchpads like Sonar, Legion, and Kaito, are making a return-like someone daring to wear bell-bottoms again, but a little smarter and a lot more transparent. Or so they say.

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2025-10-21 16:21