FTX to Acquire Crypto Exchange Bithumb

The owner of cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb, Vidente, has entered into talks with FTX to sell its stake in the South Korean platform, CNBC reported on 26 July.

According to the publication, FTX had recently entered into the purchase talks and Vidente was yet to decide on whether to proceed with a full acquisition, or co-management of the Bithumb platform. Regulatory filings from March show that Vidente is a major stake holder in the South Korean exchange, having 34.2% ownership of Bithumb Holdings and 10.22% of Bithumb Korea.

While Bithumb — whish is one of the big four crypto exchanges in South Korea, including Coinone, Korbit, and Upbit — was not one of the companies that pause withdrawals on their platforms, it still experienced the effects of the bear market. A number of lawsuits from regulators might have also contributed to the crypto exchange’s financial troubles.

Over the past few months FTX has been buying and helping struggling crypto companies, starting with its acquisition of Japanese crypto exchange Liquid. The company also offered to provide troubled crypto lender BlockFi with a $400 million credit facility, and even suggested it could potentially acquire the exchange for as much as $240 million.

Most recently, FTX made a joint offer with Alameda to buy all assets and outstanding loans of Voyager Digital, which paused all withdrawals at the start of July, and later filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Voyager, however, rejected the proposal by claiming it had “misleading or outright false claims”, and that it was not beneficial for its customers.