Coinbase's (COIN) $2.9 billion acquisition of Deribit will be a tipping point for the company, pushing the U.S.-based exchange into direct competition with global heavyweights like Binance, Wall Street analysts wrote on Thursday.

Coinbase, the largest publicly traded cryptocurrency exchange, said on Thursday it will buy derivatives exchange Deribit in a $2.9 billion deal to expand into the crypto options markets. The move underscores a push by crypto firms to widen their institutional investor base,

Coinbase agreed to acquire Dubai-based Deribit, a major crypto derivatives exchange, for $2.9 billion, the largest deal in the crypto industry to date.