A recruiter contacted me after I applied online. She scheduled a hangout interview which was mainly focused on my projects. I then got a mail saying that they would proceed with a technical interview which was also in hangout. They sent me a coding challenge later on . They conducted another interview and then I received a mail asking for references. I quickly provided the details of references. Then finally I receive a mail that they are proceeding with other candidates which meets their current needs and it is not due to references. I do not understand why they asked me to provide references when they are not interested in my profile.