Polygon Labs Acquires Two Crypto Startups for $250 Million

Polygon Labs has made significant strides in its growth strategy by acquiring two crypto ventures, Coinme and Sequence, for over $250 million, as reported by Fortune. While specific financial terms remain undisclosed, these acquisitions signal Polygon's ambition to strengthen its position in the cryptocurrency sector.

The company aims to transform into a regulated U.S. payments platform, boasting plans to facilitate money movement across 48 states, develop fiat on/off ramps, and provide access to 50,000 locations for fiat-to-crypto transactions in the U.S. According to Polygon's announcement, the goal is to streamline the onboarding process utilizing wallet infrastructure.

“We’re acquiring Coinme and Sequence to move all money on-chain,” Polygon stated in their official communication.

Sandeep Nailwal, founder of Polygon Foundation, emphasized their shift towards a full-fledged fintech operation, directly competing with established payment services like Stripe. He noted, “This is sort of a ‘Stripe in reverse.’ We already have an established network and are attracting projects to build on top of it.”

Coinme, based in Seattle, is notable for its ability to convert cash into cryptocurrency and is equipped with money transfer licenses across the U.S. Meanwhile, New York's Sequence focuses on creating infrastructure and crypto wallets.

Earlier estimates regarding Coinme's acquisition ranged from $100 million to $125 million, but CEO Mark Buaron disputed these figures, describing them as “almost entirely erroneous.” He also addressed regulatory hurdles faced by Coinme, specifically issues raised by California and Washington regulators concerning the high withdrawal limits at crypto ATMs, defending their compliance measures as state-of-the-art.