Coinbase in talks to buy peer-to-peer storage company Omni

On-demand physical storage company Omni has laid off several staff, and is considering selling its engineering team to crypto-exchange giant Coinbase, sources familiar with the matter told TechCrunch in a report published Friday.

Coinbase wants to hire some of Omni’s engineering staff to work on Coinbase Earn, a program which rewards users in crypto for studying online. Right now, users around the world can make up to $130 studying up on crypto (though most of this money is in referral fees). Coinbase Earn launched in December 2018 with support for 0x, adding support for BAT, Zcash, Stellar Lumens, EOS and Dai in recent months.

On Omni, users can have their belongings picked up and stored in warehouses whenever they wanted, or rent out their own stuff to other users. 

Omni raised $35 million in funding—$25 million of which was from Ripple last year. It is popular in San Francisco, but has struggled in recent months; Omni sold its storage business to a competitor, Clutter, but, according to TechCrunch, the transition was “botched.” 

“Users complained about changing prices and misplaced items, alarmed that suddenly a different startup had control of their possessions,” reads TechCrunch’s report. A source told TechCrunch that Omni was considering shutting down its rental service, though this remains unconfirmed.