Bloomberg reports FTX in talks to acquire Bithumb

The cryptocurrency exchange FTX, owned by Sam Bankman-Fried, is in preliminary talks to acquire the South Korean platform Bithumb. Bloomberg reports this, citing an anonymous source.

According to him, the parties have been discussing ‘something confidential for several months’.

“At this stage we cannot confirm anything,” a Bithumb spokesperson told the agency.

FTX declined to comment.

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

That same period, the exchange’s CEO Lee Jong-hoon was summoned for questioning in a case involving fraud linked to the native Bithumb token BXA. In the wake of reports about Bithumb’s troubles with authorities, the media reported that the company was put up for sale again.

The possibility of acquiring Bithumb was reportedly explored by the Huobi cryptocurrency exchange.

In January 2021, reporters named the Nexon Group, a gaming company, as the likely buyer of Bithumb. Representatives of the latter denied the reports of a potential deal worth 500 billion won (~$457 million).

In the spring it emerged that the South Korean internet giant Naver had entered talks to buy the exchange. At the time, media reported at least ten companies bidding for a stake in Bithumb.

Earlier, one of the largest American banks, Morgan Stanley, was among the potential buyers. The list included Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan, Visa, CME’s subsidiary, Binance and several other unnamed organisations.

Earlier, Sam Bankman-Fried promised to spend ‘billions’ on acquiring stakes in other companies. However, he denied the reports that the bitcoin exchange is considering acquiring ‘problematic’ mining firms and plans to acquire the online broker Robinhood.

As reported in May 2022, the head of FTX said the platform’s aim was to offer investors a broad range of products, including trading traditional stocks.

For more about Bankman-Fried, see ForkLog’s educational cards ForkLog.

Follow ForkLog’s Bitcoin news on our Telegram — cryptocurrency news, prices and analysis.