Major US cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has announced the acquisition of the community crowdfunding platform Echo in a deal valued at approximately $375 million. Echo, founded by crypto trader Jordan Fish (known as Cobie), allows communities to invest collectively in early-stage crypto projects and startups.

The acquisition comes less than two years after Echo’s launch. The platform has already facilitated over 130 deals, including one for the synthetic dollar protocol Ethena. Cobie stated that Echo will remain a “standalone platform for now,” but its product Sonar—which enables founders to host their own public token sales—will be integrated into Coinbase.

This move is seen as a growing endorsement of community fundraising, reminiscent of the Initial Coin Offering (ICO) boom of 2017. Coinbase intends to use Echo’s tools to enable greater direct community participation in funding projects on-chain, with future plans to expand support to include tokenized securities and real-world assets.