Talos Acquires Coin Metrics for Over $100 Million to Expand Crypto Services

Talos, a platform that provides trading infrastructure and technology for institutions trading digital assets, has agreed to acquire Coin Metrics, a popular blockchain analytics platform. The deal closed at over $100 million, though it remains unclear how much was paid in cash versus equity. This acquisition will enable Talos to incorporate Coin Metric’s crypto market data, benchmark indexes and analytics tools into its platform.

Talos co-founder and CEO Anton Katz stated that the deal sought to tackle demand from clients seeking full-cycle crypto services, from trading and portfolio management to onchain analytics. “Institutions increasingly look to us to support the entire digital asset investment lifecycle… Combining our teams and technologies delivers a uniquely powerful platform."

Tim Rice, co-founder and CEO of Coin Metrics, said the future of digital assets will require strong infrastructure capable of supporting institutional-scale trading, investment and risk management. The acquisition of Coin Metrics is Talos’s largest, but not its first. In 2023, it acquired D3X Systems, a portfolio construction platform, followed by risk management company Cloudwall in April 2024 and institutional DeFi platform Skolem in May. The financial terms for those deals were not disclosed.

Despite the recent bear market and uncertainty around crypto regulation in the United States, Talos has led successful funding rounds in recent years. In 2021, Talos raised $40 million in a round backed by Andreessen Horowitz. The following year, it secured $105 million in funding led by Stripes, bringing its valuation to $1.3 billion. Other major institutional investors include BNY Mellon, PayPal, Citi and Wells Fargo Strategic Capital.

Katz is certain more major institutions will move into crypto with the new crypto-friendly administration in the US. “I don’t know if there are any large financial institutions left that we are not in conversations with.”

The deal arrives at a time when mergers and acquisitions (M&As) are gaining momentum in the crypto space. This acquisition is a strategic move for Talos, which aims to become a comprehensive solution for institutional players entering the digital asset trading and portfolio management space. Coin Metrics, known for its leadership in supplying both on and off-chain data, will complement Talos's existing infrastructure. This integration will allow Talos to offer a more robust suite of tools, including advanced market analytics and on-chain data, to its institutional clients.

Talos, founded in 2018 by Wall Street veterans Anton Katz and Ethan Feldman, has been attracting substantial venture investment. The company's software helps institutional players, such as hedge funds and asset managers, trade digital assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Despite the industry's challenges, including high-profile collapses and regulatory backlash, Talos has secured significant funding.

The acquisition of Coin Metrics is expected to further solidify Talos's position in the market. Katz believes that the debate over the future of digital assets has shifted from whether major institutions will move into crypto to how they will integrate these assets into their portfolios. This includes tokenized versions of traditional assets, such as public equities and private credit funds, which can be issued with a blockchain wrapper to facilitate trading, settlement, and ownership.

While acquisitions often precede initial public offerings, Katz has not made any strong commitments regarding Talos's future plans. However, he acknowledged that an IPO is one of the considerations, given Talos's strong market position. The acquisition of Coin Metrics is a significant step towards Talos's goal of becoming a one-stop shop for institutional players in the digital asset space, offering a fully integrated crypto data and investment-management system.