Libra welcomes new members, has this company been almost acquired by Coinbase for $ 150 million?

Original: TechCrunch , the original author: Josh Constine

Source: Planet Odaily, Translator: Azuma

TechCrunch is informed that cryptocurrency startup Tagomi, which has received a total of $ 28 million in venture capital, will become the latest member of the Libra Association. The official statement is scheduled to be released on Friday or next week.

Tagomi's main business is cryptocurrency brokerage, and its platform helps large traders and funds easily enter the cryptocurrency market. Just a few days before this news came out, the Canadian e-commerce platform Shopify has officially joined the Libra Association, ending the trend of member companies of the Association "only retreating".

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TechCrunch has contacted the Libra Association and has been confirmed by the Facebook communications team.

Joining the Libra Association means Tagomi will contribute at least $ 10 million to develop this cryptocurrency. In addition, Tagomi will also need to operate a node to verify transactions on the Libra blockchain.

Tagomi was founded by Jennifer Campbell, who previously worked on the investment team of Union Square Ventures, which is also a member of the Libra Association. Tagomi currently has 5 offices and 25 employees. The company has successfully raised $ 28 million in two rounds of funding. The first round of financing totaled 16 million U.S. dollars. The founders Fund of the major investor, the well-known investor Peter Thiel, was first announced in May 2018. The subsequent disclosures revealed that other participants in this round of financing also Including Collaborative Fund, SV Angel, Joe Lonsdale, Brainchild, Digital Currency Group, ZhenFund, Box Group, Elad Gil, Charlie Noyes, etc .; the second round of financing totaled $ 12 million. It was officially announced in March last year, led by Paradigm, and Pantera Capital, Four Arrows and Multicoin Capital participated.

In November last year, The Block reported that several people familiar with the matter revealed that Coinbase had entered into "late" acquisition negotiations with Tagomi. Since then, it has been reported that Coinbase acquired Tagomi for $ 150 million, but then Rachael Horwitz, Vice President of Coinbase, denied the acquisition rumors. It remains unknown how the deal has progressed so far.

Tagomi and Campbell will provide technical and policy support to Libra to help this cryptocurrency be more secure and comply with international regulations. This will be crucial for the Libra Association to obtain regulatory approval and officially launch as scheduled in 2020. Politicians in many European and American countries have repeatedly attacked Libra at hearings or in the media, and expressed concerns that the plan may promote money laundering, persecute privacy and undermine the stability of the global financial system.

If successfully joined the Libra Association, Tagomi will become its 22nd full member. The current membership of the association is as follows.

Full Members: Calibra (Facebook), PayU, Farfetch, Lyft, Spotify, Uber, Illiad SA, Anchorage, Bison Trails, Coinbase, Xapo, Andreessen Horowitz, Union Square Ventures, Breakthrough initiative, Ribbon Capital, Thrive Capital, Creative Destruction Lab, Kiva, Mercy Corps, Women's World Banking, Shopify, Tagomi, among which, in addition to Shopify and Tagomi, the other 20 are founding members at the time of the official announcement of the Libra project.

Former members: Vodafone, Visa, MasterCard, Stripe, PayPal, Mercado Pago, Booking Holdings, eBay.

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