Coinbase in Talks to Acquire Rental Startup Omni’s Engineering Staff: Report

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase is said to be in talks to acquire the human assets of Omni, a Ripple-backed rental and storage firm.

According to a report from TechCrunch this weekend, Coinbase may grab Omni’s engineering team to further develop its Coinbase Earn product. Coinbase told the tech news site no deal is on the table currently, however.

The acquisition comes amidst layoffs for the rental company, which let seven members of its operations staff go last week. The engineering team has also received interest from Thumbtack, a marketplace for professional services. TechCrunch said the engineers are already interviewing at Coinbase.

Last year, Omni raised $25 million in a funding round led by Ripple executives Stefan Thomas and Chris Larsen, who invested an undisclosed amount of XRP. TechCrunch says Omni was recently looking into launching a rental product for brick-and-mortar stores.

Coinbase Earn customers earn small amounts of cryptocurrency while learning about the different coin’s fundamentals and use-cases. As of now, users in over 100 countries can make up to $130 completing classes and quizzes on cryptoassets. Dai, EOS, stellar lumens, zcash, the basic attention token, and 0x are currently listed on Coinbase Earn.

Coinbase did not respond to a CoinDesk request for comment by press time.

Coinbase office image via CoinDesk archives