Coinbase Acqui-hires Sensible Founders in 7th Deal of 2025

• Jacob Frantz and Zachary Salmon have joined Coinbase as part of an acqui-hire deal.
• Sensible will cease operations in October, with users advised to withdraw funds by October 10.

On September 9, 2025, The Block reported that Coinbase had acqui-hired Jacob Frantz and Zachary Salmon, the founders of the crypto yield platform Sensible. Frantz and Salmon will lead key teams at Coinbase focused on simplifying decentralized finance (DeFi) services and accelerating its onchain consumer strategy.

As part of this agreement, Sensible, which was previously backed by Coinbase’s venture arm, will shut down operations by October 2025. The platform has requested users to withdraw all funds by October 10. Sensible’s closure aligns with Coinbase’s strategy to integrate its founders into the broader scope of its operations.

This acqui-hire marks the seventh acquisition or talent acquisition Coinbase has undertaken in 2025. By bringing Frantz and Salmon into its ecosystem, Coinbase reinforces its commitment to its “everything exchange” vision. This initiative is aimed at mitigating the complexities of DeFi adoption, allowing mainstream consumers to engage with onchain financial services more seamlessly.

The move further aligns with Coinbase's broader goal of establishing itself as the central gateway to the onchain economy. Recently, Coinbase has been expanding its service offerings to include products such as tokenized stocks, prediction markets, and multi-asset index futures. By acquiring talent experienced in consumer-friendly DeFi applications, Coinbase is positioning itself as a more comprehensive financial hub in the rapidly growing blockchain industry.