The South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb is set to be acquired by FTX, a cryptocurrency derivatives exchange. This update was confirmed by the owner of the former, Vidente. The FTX acquisition of Bithumb is a move to support the derivatives exchange’s purchasing spree. The company noted that they have been reviewing all possible opportunities for investments and these also include a complete acquisition of Bithumb. However, they are even open to joint management of the crypto exchange firm.
Bithumb owner also revealed that currently there was no specific course of action decided or intimated of. Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of FTX, has been initiating an array of investments lately and this one is a part of it. However, such a move during the bleeding crypto market has been considered audacious yet risky. The bearish market has already wiped off millions of dollars and here the FTX founder is leaving no opportunity to put his money into the crypto domain. Therefore, it seems that he strongly believes in the unseen potential of the digital currency space.
Earlier last month, the derivatives exchange signed a deal with BlockFi, which offered it the option of completely purchasing the crypto lending company at a maximum quotation of $240 million. The FTX deal with BlockFi offered a price that was immensely lower than the crypto lender’s former valuation of $4.8 billion. The FTX acquisition of Bithumb is also on similar lines.
In early 2022, FTX cracked a deal with Liquid, a Japanese crypto exchange, in order to buy it. Therefore, if the deal with Bithumb is cracked the company will enjoy a better hold in the Asian continent with ownership of two prominent local crypto exchanges in South Korea and Japan.
According to data from CoinMarketCap, the South Korean exchange processed transactions worth 727.22 million on the day when the news of FTX acquisition of Bithumb broke.
