Naver Eyes Stake in Bitcoin Exchange Bithumb

The South Korean internet giant Naver has begun talks to acquire a stake in the cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb. Maeil Business Newspaper reports, citing several unnamed sources.

Naver Corporation — operator of the country’s popular internet portal and messaging app Line. According to sources from the publication, the company plans to integrate Bitcoin as a payment method into its payment services Naver Pay and Line Pay.

Media reports say that on March 21 the main shareholder of the trading platform Vidente discussed a potential deal with Naver. Representatives of the internet company did not respond to ForkLog’s request.

The Korean edition noted that at least ten firms are bidding for a stake in Bithumb. Earlier, one of the largest American banks Morgan Stanley was among the potential buyers, along with Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan, Visa, a subsidiary of the CME Group, Binance, Naver and several other unnamed companies, according to the press.

In September 2020, Seoul police conducted a series of searches at Bithumb’s offices and seized part of the shares of Bithumb Holdings, owned by the director of Bithumb Korea, Kim Ben-Ge-nu.

In the same month, the exchange’s CEO Lee Jong-hoon was summoned for questioning in a case involving fraud related to the native Bithumb token BXA. In light of news about Bithumb’s problems with authorities, media reported that the company was put up for sale again.

In November 2020, the possibility of acquiring Bithumb allegedly was explored by cryptocurrency exchange Huobi.

In January 2021, journalists named the likely buyer of Bithumb as the gaming group Nexon. Representatives of the latter denied the reports of a potential 500 billion won deal.

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