- Conversations about the acquisition have been ongoing for several months, according to Bloomberg
- Founded in South Korea in 2014, Bithumb has grown to become one of South Korea’s “big four” cryptocurrency exchanges
Сем Бенкмен-Фрид FTX is looking to buy South Korean crypto exchange Bithumb, според Блумберг.
Acquisition talks have been ongoing for several months, a person familiar with the matter told the news outlet. There’s no word on Bithumb’s potential valuation.
The crypto bear market has given companies with larger cash reserves the perfect opportunity to acquire struggling competitors. FTX recently reached a договор да стекне проблематичен заемодавач БлокФи за до 240 милиони долари и се согласи да го купи Битво и Embed Financial претходно во јуни.
Alameda Research, another company founded by Bankman-Fried, also позајми 500 милиони долари to bankrupt crypto lender Војаџер. Bankman-Fried is also Voyager’s single largest individual shareholder, holding 11% of the company.
These moves further strengthen the rumor that Bankman-Fried is actively using the crypto market crash to assert his dominance во индустријата.
Chris McCann, a general partner at early FTX investor Race Capital, изјави за Блумберг that Bankman-Fried is “not doing this out of the goodness of his own heart,” claiming that at this point “his ambitions knows no bounds.”
Founded in South Korea in 2014, Bithumb has grown to become one of South Korea’s “big four” cryptocurrency exchanges, alongside Upbit, Coinone and Korbit. Reports of Bithumb being up for sale have циркулира since 2020, with the firm наводно valued at 1.27 trillion won ($969 million) last year.
It currently handles about $560 million in daily trade volume, according to CoinGecko data.
Bithumb’s former chair Lee Jung-hoon was indicted in July last year after he allegedly swindled $100 million from the chair of BK Group, Kim Byung Gun. Bithumb was also among several South Korean crypto exchanges that were raided by local prosecutors last week, following investigations into TerraUSD’s collapse.
An FTX spokesperson declined to comment. Bithumb did not respond to Blockworks’ request for comment by press time.
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Source: https://blockworks.co/ftx-reportedly-in-talks-to-buy-south-korean-exchange-bithumb/