Coinbase and Kraken are reportedly in talks to acquire Deribit

According to Solid Intel's recent post, Coinbase and Kraken are reportedly in talks to acquire Deribit. If true, the price tag must be astronomical.

I've never been a big fan of CEXes. I don't like how they can freeze your crypto on the flimsiest of pretexts and then make impossible demands before returning it. (This is probably why our customers prefer exchanging crypto with us at rabbit.io - we never pull the tricks that CEXes do.)

But Deribit? Deribit is different.

First and foremost, Deribit is THE options market. The biggest, the most renowned, with virtually no real competitors. Sure, many platforms try to implement options trading, but all the liquidity is on Deribit. That's why other platforms consistently have wider spreads and higher fees on options.

Options are sophisticated trading instruments. As a result, you rarely find traders on Deribit who don't understand what they're doing and then complain about being misled. Deribit's clients are serious players, and Deribit respects that by delivering premium service. Try searching for negative reviews about Deribit online. Find any? The only ones I could find were obviously paid hits that had nothing to do with Deribit's actual operations (see screenshot).

I can't imagine what would motivate the owners of such a successful business to sell. And I'm equally skeptical that Coinbase or Kraken could maintain the high standards Deribit has set.

Though perhaps this might finally open the door for some real competition to emerge. After all, monopolies aren't great for the market, no matter how excellent the monopolist might be.