Here at Ethex.market, we wanted to do some research on Cryptocurrency exchanges and wallets that have been acquired or have acquired businesses. In this article, I am summarising some of the more high profile acquisitions completed by cryptocurrency exchanges. I am referencing many different articles and spanning no specific time period. If you find that any of this information is incorrect or that I left something out, feel free to leave a comment below.
Binance acquires Trust Wallet
Date: July 2018
Amount: N/A
Notes: Trust Wallet is an open-source, decentralized mobile wallet that supports Ethereum tokens. Binance is a cryptocurrency exchange platform that combines digital technology and finance. The company provides access to exchange digital currency pairs on the market while maintaining security, liquidity, enabling a safe and efficient deal with anyone, anytime and anywhere.
Source: Invest In Blockchain & Crunchbase
Kraken acquires Crypto Facilities
Date: February, 2019
Amount: Nine Figure Deal
Notes: Crypto Facilities is a financial services firm that provides FCA-regulated risk management and trading solutions for digital assets such as bitcoin. It also operates as a broker for exchange-traded futures and options. The company’s products serve to trade and manage the price risk of bitcoin and other digital tokens. The Crypto Facilities acquisition means Kraken is the first crypto exchange to offer both spot and futures trading in currencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP.
Source: Fortune & Crunchbase
Kraken acquires Cryptowatch
Date: March, 2017
Amount: N/A
Notes: Market portal Cryptowatch is a site that provides real-time market information and trading services. It is a popular charting and trading platform used by thousands of traders to chart over 150 markets in real-time and trade up to 22 digital assets through a highly user-friendly interface. Based in San Francisco, Kraken is a bitcoin exchange in euro volume and liquidity that trades various currencies, including Canadian dollars, US dollars, British pounds, and Japanese yen. It is known as the first to have the trading price and volume displayed on the Bloomberg terminal as well as to pass a cryptographically verifiable proof-of-reserves audit.
Source: Crunchbase & Crunchbase
Kraken acquires Glidera
Date: Dec, 2016
Amount: N/A
Notes: Glidera is a platform that enables website developers to integrate bitcoin buying and selling services into their applications. This way, the startup serves as an on-ramp to the bitcoin ecosystem, allowing people to easily use their bank accounts to buy digital currency and send funds to the bitcoin wallet of their choice. As part of the acquisition, Glidera will be rebranded to Kraken Direct.
Source: BizJournal
Kraken acquires CleverCoin
Date: June 2016
Amount: N/A
Notes: CleverCoin is a user-friendly bitcoin exchange. Deposit funds through SEPA, credit card, Sofort, Giropay, Bancontact and iDEAL. CleverCoin is a legal entity operating fully under Dutch law. The acquisition of CleverCoin will empower Kraken with greater liquidity and a significantly expanded customer base in Europe, its flagship market
Source: Crunchbase & Coindesk
Kraken acquires Cavirtex & Coinsetter
Date: Jan, 2016
Amount: N/A
Notes: Cavirtex launched in June 2011 as Canada’s first Bitcoin exchange. Cavirtex boasts Canada’s best liquidity, comprehensive security measures and the most diverse and convenient funding methods in the business. Coinsetter LLC operates a Bitcoin trading platform with tools for forex traders. Its platform offers trading and the liquidity of various exchanges on Bitcoin trades.
Source: Cointelegraph, Crunchbase & Crunchbase
NXMH acquires Bitstamp
Date: October, 2018
Amount: $400 Mill Range (deal is said to have been all cash)
Notes: Bitstamp has not changed operations since the acquisition and will remain its own entity. NXMH is a family investment holding based in Brussels, Belgium with over €2 billion in assets under management, managing the wealth of an Asian tech entrepreneur. They have a flexible investment horizon, with the ability to invest for the long term.
Source: Invest In Blockchain & Crunchbase
Coinbase acquires Paradex
Date: May, 2018
Amount: N/A
Notes: Paradex is a DEX (decentralized exchange) built on top of the 0x protocol. Coinbase is an online platform that allows merchants, consumers, and traders to transact with digital currency. As of October 2018, Coinbase was projected to bring in $1.3 Billion in revenue.
Source: Invest In Blockchain & Bloomberg
Coinbase acquires Blockspring
Date: January, 2018
Amount: N/A
Notes: San Francisco-based Blockspring produces tools that enable developers to automatically gather and process information from application programming interfaces (APIs).
Source: CoinTelegraph
Coinbase acquires Cipher Browser
Date: April, 2018
Amount: N/A
Notes: Cipher Browser is a decentralized app browser and wallet for the Ethereum blockchain. Cipher allows you to interact with dapps powered by Ethereum on your mobile device and makes it easy for you to securely store, send and receive Ether and ERC20 tokens.
Source: Crunchbase
Coinbase acquires Earn.com
Date: April, 2018
Amount: about $120 Million
Notes: Earn.com is an online platform that allows users to be paid in cryptocurrency for replying to emails, taking surveys, and completing tasks. Earn.com makes it possible for people to earn cryptocurrency in their spare time and hence adds transactional value to the crypto world.
Source: Invest In Blockchain
Coinbase acquires Neutrion
Date: February, 2019
Amount: about $13.5 Million
Notes: Neutrino is focused on developing a comprehensive platform for analyzing, tracking & investigating blockchain and other virtual currencies. Neutrino supplies in-depth and flexible investigative solutions to the world’s most crypto-savvy experts within leading financial services companies and law enforcement agencies.
Source: CoinTelegraph & Crunchbase
Coinbase acquires Keystone Capital Corp
Date: June, 2018
Amount: N/A
Notes: Keystone Capital Corp. operates as a financial-services firm. Keystone Capital Corp. is a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. registered broker-dealer. It is said that Coinbase is wanting to clear the path for it to operate as a registered broker-dealer
Source: Fortune & Crunchbase
Coinbase acquires Distributed Systems
Date: August 2018
Amount: N/A
Notes: Distributed Systems allows teams to build, deploy, and scale machine intelligence applications. They are currently focused on making recent advances in computer vision and deep learning more accessible to developers.
Source: TechCrunch & Crunchbase
Coinbase acquires Blockr.io
Date: August 2018
Amount: N/A
Notes: Blockr.io Is a popular explorer for the Blockchain, or the distributed public ledger that keeps track of Bitcoin transactions.
Source: Crunchbase
Coinsquare acquires Block EQ
Date: Dec, 2018
Amount: $12 Million
Notes: Coinsquare is Canada’s premier cryptocurrency trading platform for trading Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, and other digital currencies. Since its founding in 2014, the company claims to have never lost a coin. BlockEQ is a private Stellar wallet where you can create an account that only you control. Transact and trade in a matter of seconds. Transaction fees cost less than $0.00001 or 1,000th of a penny. Micro-payments are now possible with the BlockEQ Wallet.
Source: Mediume, Crunchbase & BlockEQ
Coinsquare acquires StellarX
Date: February, 2018
Amount: N/A
Notes: StellarX is a “full featured” decentralized exchange app native to the Stellar protocol and offers trading in a range of cryptocurrencies. StellarX lets you trade directly from your own wallet, and you can deposit and redeem off-chain assets, like BTC or EUR. They also help you manage your secret keys, though of course we never have access to them or your assets.
Source: Medium
BK Global acquires Bithumb
Date: October, 2018
Amount: $353 Million
Notes: Bithumb is a cryptocurrency exchange platform. The South Korean-based platform is also known as a leading exchange for ether, the currency of Ethereum (which in itself is immensely popular in the country). Bithumb will be jointly managed by BK Global
Source: Invest In Blockchain & Crunchbase
Circle acquires Poloniex
Date: February 2018
Amount: $400 Million
Notes: Poloniex is a cryptocurrency exchange that offers over 100 bitcoin (BTC) markets available for trading. The platform enables its users to buy and sell cryptocurrencies such as Litecoin, Namecoin, Dogecoin, and more. Circle provides an online platform that enables users to send money quickly and easily. Circle’s crypto-trading desk provides one of the largest global liquidity pools for digital asset trading and averages $2 billion in monthly volume.
Source: Invest In Blockchain & Bloomberg
Bitmain acquires Telescope
Date: October 2018
Amount: N/A
Notes: Founded in 2013, Bitmain transforms computing by building industry-defining technology in cryptocurrency, blockchain, and artificial intelligence (AI). The company also operates the world’s largest and second largest Bitcoin mining pools in terms of computing power, BTC.com and Antpool. Telescope BCH is a Bitcoin Cash browser extension that allows you to send and receive instantly on any web page. It includes Bitpay and moneybutton.com support.
Source: Bitmain & Telescope
Huobi acquires Bit Trade
Date: September 2018
Amount: N/A
Notes: Huobi.com is a global blockchain asset financial services provider including exchange, trade, wallet, and storage. The headquarter is in Beijing, China with international subsidiaries. It has established compliance service teams in Singapore, Japan, South Korea, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Brazil and Hong Kong to deliver its secure and credible digital asset trading and asset management services to millions of users in over 130 countries. Bit Trade is an enabler. They help individuals and businesses buy and sell cryptocurrency and other digital blockchain assets like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, and Litecoin through a single platform. Bit Trade is also a consultancy. Their innovation team Bit Trade Labs helps enterprise understand and implement cryptocurrency and blockchain into their operations.
Source: Coindesk, Crunchbase & Medium
Huobi acquires Pantronics
Date: August 2018
Amount: about $70 Million
Notes: Pantronics, an investment holding company, operates in the electronic manufacturing services industry. It manufactures and distributes power-related, and electrical and electronic products, such as electronic power supplies, battery chargers, and coils/solenoids, as well as LED and optical products comprising LED lighting.
Source: Crunchbase & Crunchbase
Bibox acquires DEx.top
Date: December 2018
Amount: N/A
Notes: Bibox integrates AI technology into all aspects of its platform trading, carefully screening high-quality projects for users, and has received wide acclaim from both users and industry experts for its smooth trading experience and excellent customer service. Bibox has also established a strong global presence, with operation centers in more than 10 countries and regions including Estonia, the US, Switzerland, Singapore, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Japan, and South Korea. DEx.top is a decentralized Ethereum-token exchange platform based on smart contracts. It introduced the innovative ROC (Replayed On Chain) trading mechanism that leverages synchronized off-chain and on-chain ledgers to enable instant trading while ensuring the security of traders’ assets, providing a superior user experience that rapidly gained popularity among the blockchain community.
Source: & Medium
Rakuten acquires Everybody’s Bitcoin
Date: April 2018
Amount: $33.5 Million
Notes: Rakuten is a tech company that offers electronic commerce solutions in Japan and internationally. The company operates in three segments such as internet services, finance services, and others. Everybody’s Bitcoin is an unlicensed cryptocurrency exchange platform.
Source: Coindesk, Crunchbase & Crunchbase
Undisclosed Hong Kong investment fund acquires BTC China
Date: January 2018
Amount: N/A
Notes: BTCC (BTC China) is a computer and technology company that enables bitcoin exchanges worldwide. It offers a variety of services, including digital currency exchange, a mining pool, payment processing, consumer wallets, and blockchain engraving, via a single integrated platform. BTCC serves security, risk mitigation, credibility, and technological innovation to its global customer base. Its product line includes Bitcoin Pro Exchange, Bitcoin Exchange, Bitcoin Mining Pool, Bitcoin Wallet, Blockchain Engraving, Mint Physical Bitcoins, and Developer Platform. Headquartered in Shanghai, BTCC was originally founded as BTCChina in 2011.
Source: Cointelegraph & Crunchbase
Prasos acquires Coinmotion
Date: February 2016
Amount: N/A
Notes: Prasos is a Finnish cryptocurrency and blockchain concentrated startup founded in 2012. It is one of the leading bitcoin service providers in the Nordic countries and offer a great variety of bitcoin-related services under the brand names Coinmotion, Bittiraha, Denarium and Bittimaatti. More than 150 million euros have been exchanged through Prasos services and they operate worldwide. Coinmotion Ltd aims to provide a seamless platform for using bitcoin to both consumers and vendors. Their dream is to dismiss trading fees and currency problems as a thing of the past while enabling a much more free and inspirational environment for companies and consumers to operate in.
Source: Crunchbase & Crunchbase
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