After all the effort of building a blockchain research team, they're just gonna buy a shitty exchange? meh that's quite dumb, probably just a rumor. We'll see...
Keep in mind though that with acquisitions such as these it's rarely only about buying a platform or product, but also about buying knowledge and experience.
Say what you will about Coinbase, but being one of the first exchanges they likely have some of the most experienced devs in the field.