Coinbase announced its agreement to acquire Vector, a Solana-based on-chain trading platform, on Thursday, November 21, 2025. The goal of this acquisition is to expand Coinbase's exposure in the DeFi space.
The financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed and are expected to be finalized by the end of 2025, pending regulatory approval. Following the acquisition, Vector’s standalone mobile and desktop applications will cease operations. Its 13-person team will join Coinbase to accelerate the exchange’s Solana integrations.
Vector provides its users with the ability to mirror top traders’ positions and access newly launched tokens across Solana launchpads with rapid detection and execution. Coinbase stated that the acquisition will enhance its decentralized exchange features by integrating Vector’s high-speed infrastructure, which will enable faster asset discovery and improved liquidity routing for Solana-based trading.
This acquisition marks Coinbase's ninth acquisition in 2025. Notable previous acquisitions include the $2.9 billion takeover of Deribit in May and the $375 million purchase of the ICO platform Echo in October. This series of acquisitions aligns with Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong's vision of transforming Coinbase into the "everything exchange," a comprehensive platform for both centralized and decentralized trading across various blockchains.
According to Messari data, Solana's decentralized exchange ecosystem has surpassed $1 trillion in cumulative trading volume this year, with a significant portion attributed to meme coin activity and high-frequency trading tools like Vector.
Solana's Ecosystem Growth and Market Reactions
Following the announcement, Coinbase shares, ticker COIN, saw a surge of 1.75%, reaching approximately $240.
The cryptocurrency community has reacted positively to the acquisition, viewing it as a bullish indicator for Solana adoption. With Coinbase’s user base exceeding 100 million verified users, this move is expected to particularly benefit low-cost, high-throughput use cases such as meme coins and decentralized finance applications on Solana.
The official Solana account congratulated Vector on X. However, some traders raised questions regarding Tensor's continued dominance in Solana NFT volume. Coinbase clarified that the Tensor Foundation, which manages the separate Tensor NFT marketplace and its token, is not part of this transaction and will continue to operate independently.
This deal contributes to a record year for mergers and acquisitions in the cryptocurrency sector, with Coinbase continuing to be a prominent consolidator in the industry.