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Binance Acquired CoinMarketCap: A Huge Boost to the Binance "Super Exchange" Ecosystem

Binance, one of the largest digital asset exchanges in terms of trading volume and users, has officially announced the acquisition of CoinMarketCap for an undisclosed fee. According to the press release shared with Blockchain.News, the acquisition creates synergies for both companies in boosting cryptoassets adoption to global users.

Huge Boost to Binance “Super Exchange” Ecosystem

In our earlier conversation with Changpeng Zhao (“CZ”), Binance has evolved from crypto exchange to a superexchange ecosystem, which Binance has gone global with over 25 products and initiatives. With the acquisition of the world’s most-referenced crypto data tracking site, Binance enhances data transparency and credibility to users which we expect huge synergies to be achieved between CoinMarketCap and Binance Info. The DNA matching between both companies provides a solid foundation on the acquisition, and CZ further commented, “The core DNA of CoinMarketCap is strongly aligned with Binance’s ethics and culture, from its integrity to its value of freedom, transparency, and user-focus. Our common vision will be strengthened by this acquisition to further growth and instill transparency in the industry. This will enable us to build on each other’s strengths, jointly serving as infrastructure providers of crypto.”

CoinMarketCap Remains Independent

CoinMarketCap has been the leader to ensure data transparency and information integrity of cryptoassets. For CoinMarketCap, the acquisition paves the way to the new era of the open economy. As CoinMarketCap has remained independent from external stakeholders since its inception, the crypto community cast doubts on its neutrality following the acquisition.

Carylyne Chan, who will replace Brandon Chez as the interim CEO of CoinMarketCap, addresses this “most immediate” concerns to the community, “CoinMarketCap will continue to be run independently, as an independent entity, from Binance. Decisions will be made according to the best interests of CoinMarketCap, meaning that we will continue to develop products and services that benefit CoinMarketCap users, and continue working with partners and customers in a way that benefits them and brings the greatest value to them.” CoinMarketCap will continue to enforce its independence in listing criteria, circulating supply calculation methods, and Liquidity Metric ranking methodology.

Despite the stepdown as CEO, Chez remained optimistic about the future of CoinMarketCap. He believed Binance is one of the very best options as the acquirer and he planned to focus on his family after seven years of leadership.

Synergies between Binance and CoinMarketCap

Following the recent addition of perpetual swap data, CoinMarketCap Interest, and block explorer data, Chan stated that CoinMarketCap will soon enable users to sync watchlists, portfolio, and content in their accounts. Chan further shared the synergies brought by Binance in terms of best practices in company-building, including security, financial planning, HR management, and more.

Square to Acquires 'Buy Now, Pay Later' Payment Company Afterpay for AU$39B

The digital commercial payment giant Square announced on August 1 that it would acquire the Australian payment platform Afterpay for 39 billion Australian dollars ($29 billion US dollars).

Square will acquire all the issued shares of Afterpay in the form of a stock purchase, and it is expected to complete the acquisition in the first quarter of 2022.

The acquisition aims to use Afterpay’s leading “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) tool to strengthen and enable further integration between its seller and cash app ecosystems while integrating its global merchant base to accelerate the development of square’s business.

The Co-Founder and CEO of Square Jack Dorsey commented on the acquisition:

“Together, we can better connect our Cash App and Seller ecosystems to deliver even more compelling products and services for merchants and consumers, putting the power back in their hands.”

Afterpay is the world’s leading “buy before you pay” (BNPL) platform. BNPL transactions are also called instalment loans, allowing customers to pay bills in a small portion within a fixed period of time, and are especially popular with the younger generation.

Afterpay co-founders and co-CEOs Anthony Eisen and Nick Molnar said that:

“By combining with Square, we will further accelerate our growth in the U.S. and globally, offer access to a new category of in-person merchants, and provide a broader platform of new and valuable capabilities and services to our merchants and consumers.”

After integrating the two parties, Afterpay consumers can manage their instalments through the Cash App and get BNPL discounts.

The acquisition is believed to allow Square to provide its customers with options to escape the traditional consumer demand for credit.

Blockstream Raises $210M And Acquires an Israeli Bitcoin Mining Gear Firm

Blockstream Bitcoin infrastructure firm has raised $210 million in Series B funding, which gives the crypto technology firm a valuation of $3.2 billion. Blockstream announced that on Tuesday, August 24.

iFinex, the parent company of cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex and the U.K. investment management firm Baillie Gifford were Blockstream new backers, which joined existing investors like Jack Dorsey, Twitter CEO, in the participation of the funding round.

Blockstream also announced that it had acquired Israeli Bitcoin mining hardware manufacturer Spondoolies for undisclosed terms.

The developments, therefore, pave the way for Blockstream, a Canada-based Bitcoin infrastructure company, to build a business line manufacturing specialised mining chips known as ASICs.

Blockstream Chief Strategy Officer, Samson Mow, talked about the development and said that the investment would support the firm’s further growth and assist in expanding its cryptocurrency mining products and services, including its recently launched Blockstream Energy service, which maximises renewable energy investment returns at power production sites.

Mow said that the new funding would also further its bitcoin-focused financial products and its Liquid sidechain network. He also stated that Blockstream plans to develop its own ASIC miner for its operations and sell on the retail market in the following year.

“The fresh infusion of capital will allow us to launch more products under Blockstream Finance, as well as bring our new bitcoin ASIC miner to market next year,” Mow said.

Blockstream will use its new mining infrastructure in partnerships worldwide, including its collaboration with Square Financial payments services firm, run by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, to develop an open-source, solar-powered mining facility in the US.

Blockstream is a blockchain technology company co-founded by Cypherpunk and cryptographer Adam Back. The firm focuses on various Bitcoin-related areas, such as operating as a mining service provider and developing renewable-based infrastructure planned to green cryptocurrency mining operations.

Crypto Funding Rounds Increasing

Blockstream has joined several cryptocurrency-related firms that have raised funding to expand their business activities.

Circle, payment and digital currency firm, recently conducted the largest financial round worth $440 million for its business growth in the second quarter. Circle recently announced plans to go public through a $4.5 billion merger with a blank-check company.

The survey by CB Insights analytics firm shows that funding for crypto and blockchain business-related firms topped $4.38 billion for the first time in the second quarter of 2021, despite the sharp plunge in crypto prices during that time, which is up more than 50% from the previous quarter and almost ninefold increase from the same period a year earlier.

The record funding shows how investors find alternative ways to gain exposure to the cryptocurrency industry by acquiring stakes in private startups developing technology for virtual currencies and the distributed networks that underpin them.

Fighting Ransomware: Chainalysis Acquires Cyber-Security Firm Excygent

Chainalysis, a blockchain data analytics and security platform have announced its acquisition of cybercrime investigative company Excygent, bolstering the former firm’s push to combat ransomware attacks.

Known to aid regulatory agencies and other interested parties in tracking cybercriminals, Excygent will boost Chainalysis’s digital currency transaction monitoring efforts.

The provisions of tracking tools to peek into the anonymity of transactions through blockchain networks have become central to the unconditional embrace of cryptocurrencies by most regulatory bodies worldwide. It is drawing on the excuse of digital currencies being used for illicit activities such as ransom payment during cyber data thefts and hacks, amongst others. With the tools Chainalysis is building, more government agencies will find more comfort in rolling out futuristic regulations for the nascent industry.

“Cybercrime like ransomware is one of the biggest barriers to building trust in cryptocurrency,” said Michael Gronager, Co-founder and CEO, Chainalysis. “The expertise brought by the Excygent team directly aligns with our mission to leverage the transparency of blockchains to weed out bad actors from the ecosystem and ultimately promote more financial freedom with less risk.”

The duo of Chainalysis and Excygent have worked together in the past with government agencies to support the most significant virtual currency investigations in recent history. One of these historic endeavours was in resolving the hacking against Twitter that saw the accounts of over 130 prominent people, including the U.S. President Joe Biden, hacked last year.

Based on this history, integrating both company’s technology will not be an arduous task.

“The Excygent team has been leveraging Chainalysis technology and working alongside their team to tackle some of the most significant investigations into cryptocurrency crime in recent years,” said Aaron Bice, Excygent, LLC. “If you’re committed to creating a safer ecosystem for cryptocurrency participants, Chainalysis is the team to be. We are thrilled to join the world’s leading blockchain data platform and to continue to grow their services and technology offering to government agencies.”

New York’s Crypto Firm NYDIG Acquires UK’s Bitcoin Micropayment Firm Bottlepay for $300M

New York-based crypto company NYDIG (New York digital investment group) has acquired U.K. based micropayment service firm Bottlepay for an estimated amount of funds between $280 million and $300 million.

Founded in 2019, the British-based Bottlepay is a maker of global, real-time payment applications powered by the Lightning Network. Users can make micropayments of as little as a dollar in Bitcoin or other currencies, such as euros and pounds, instantly without transaction fees. Bottlepay app is available throughout Europe, and the U.K. and users send money as messages via some of the world’s largest social networks like Twitter, Reddit, and Discord.

Therefore, the acquisition will enable NYDIG to integrate Bottlepay’s Lightning Network infrastructure into its existing full-stack Bitcoin platform to facilitate more efficient and faster payments.

Bottlepay founder Pete Cheyne talked about the development and highlighted why NYDIG acquired Bottlepay.

“When we set out to build Bottlepay, we wanted to unlock the financial infrastructure of the future. We’re excited to be joining an industry leader like NYDIG who shares our vision for the future of money,”

Meanwhile, Robert Gutmann, co-founder and CEO of NYDIG, also talked about the regulatory credibility that the Bottlepay service built through its business service delivery.

“The Bottlepay team has built world-class infrastructure for Lightning and bitcoin payments, and they have done so with the same level of regulatory and compliance rigour that our customers expect from NYDIG today. NYDIG is on a mission to bring bitcoin to all, and this acquisition brings us one step closer to fulfilling that goal,” Gutmann said.

In February, NYDIG participated in Bottlepay’s $15.4 million seed funding round, a raise led by British billionaire investor Alan Howard and enabled the firm to get a valuation of $50 million in excess.

NYDIG Expanding Crypto Services

The Bottlepay’s acquisition comes amidst NYDIG continued accelerating its business expansion and franchises.

In April, NYDIG acquired Arctos Capital, a technology-driven commercial lender that provides financing solutions to Bitcoin holders, investors, and mining businesses.

In January, NYDIG acquired Digital Assets Data, a major data, research, and analytics firm building enterprise-grade software and data feeds. The acquisition added to NYDIG’s best-in-class platform for banks, hedge funds, high-net-worth investors, and institutions looking to unlock the full potential of Bitcoin as an asset class.

As recently reported by Blockchain.News in May, NYDIG partnered with fintech giant Fidelity National Information Services to enable U.S. banks to offer Bitcoin services to their customers in coming months. Banks which recently only announced plans to allow wealth management clients to be able to access the cryptocurrency, have now indicated their willingness to provide Bitcoin services to even retail customers.

Thai Bank SCB Acquires Local Crypto Exchange Bitkub for $536.7M

Thailand’s oldest bank, Siam Commercial Bank Plc (SCB), announced on Tuesday, November 2, that it acquired a majority stake (51%) in local cryptocurrency exchange Bitkub for a deal worth 17.85 billion baht ($536.7 million).

Arthid Nanthawithaya, the CEO of Siam Commercial Bank, talked about the development and said that the bank bought the local digital asset exchange Bitkub due to the fact that businesses in the digital asset space have witnessed significant growth over the previous two years and the sector holds massive potential value in the long-term.

With the purchase, Siam bank signalled that it aims to strengthen and grow the digital asset ecosystem in Thailand.

Mr. Nanthawithaya mentioned that the acquisition will “help the SCBX Group create new growth value in the long term amid a new financial world.”

Meanwhile, Jirayut Srupsrisopa, founder and CEO of Bitkub, talked about the acquisition and stated: “We needed to elevate Bitkub to the global level, so we turned to a strong partner like SCB to help us achieve our target faster and more sustainably.”

Srupsrisopa further added that Bitkub crypto exchange has reached the point where it has become an important structure in Thailand’s future economy. “Bitkub is no longer just a startup. It is becoming necessary infrastructure for the financial industry 3.0 in Thailand,” he said.

Siam Commercial bank’s SCB stated that it expects to complete the entire acquisition by the second quarter of 2022.

Bitkub – one of the largest digital asset exchanges in Thailand – stated that the acquisition deal is subject to approval from the country’s Central Bank and the Thai Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

SCBX, the country’s fourth-largest bank by assets in Thailand, completed the acquisition when it planned to restructure and grow its new business and financial technologies.

Other banks and firms in Thailand also have made similar moves into the digital asset space.

In August, Bank of Ayudhya Plc – a major bank in Thailand, led an investment funding drive into local cryptocurrency exchange Zipmex.

On August 31, Thai digital asset exchange Zipmex raised $41 million from the country’s fifth-largest lender, Bank of Ayudhya PCL as well as other media firms, including Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin’s venture capital firm, B Capital Group as an investor.

In March, KASIKORNBANK (KBank) launched Kubit, a subsidiary or unit, to provide a variety of digital token offerings in the Thai public market.

Other companies, such as the Brooker Group Plc financial consultancy firm, have made crypto assets such as Bitcoin as part of their investment strategy.

Thai Crypto Trading

As of September 2021, Bitkub is the leading cryptocurrency exchange in Thailand, around 72% of local users who trade crypto assets use the digital platform. Bitkub has become extremely popular due to the firm’s aggressive marketing campaigns as well as its inclusive platform designed for non-tech users.

Early this year, Bitkub, the most heavily trafficked cryptocurrency exchange in Thailand, announced plans to stop accepting new customers to address issues recently identified by market regulators.

In April, the Thai Securities and Exchange Commission ordered Bitkub to stop accepting new clients until it enhanced its technical infrastructures to cope with high levels of customer demand.

The suspension covered all onboarding stages, including clients’ registration, pending applications, and identity verifications processes.

The regulator also issued improvement orders for the exchange after users were blocked from trading during January’s significant spikes of crypto prices.

Coinbase Acquires Crypto Wallet Firm BRD

US-based crypto exchange Coinbase announced the acquisition of crypto wallet startup BRD, aiming to create more secure and reliable access to the encrypted decentralized world for users.

BRD was initially introduced to mobile wallets in 2014 to provide users with a place to store bitcoin, and now there are more than 10 million users using this wallet.

In a letter to BRD users on Wednesday, CEO Adam Traidman and co-founder Aaron Voisine stated that some of the company’s team members will move to Coinbase to continue developing crypto wallets.

However, the co-founder of BRD said that：

“Nothing will change in the BRD wallet app and as always, your funds are safe and secure. In the future, BRD wallet users will have an optional migration path to self custody with Coinbase Wallet.”

Coinbase officially announced on Twitter that the BRD team has deep expertise in the self-custody of encrypted wallets, which will help the adoption of web3.

BRD was previously known as Breadwallet, as soon as the acquisition news was reported, the token price soared by more than 500% – from approximately US$0.16 to US$1.01, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

Coinbase Acquires Cryptographic Security Company Unbound, Strengthening Presence in Israel

Coinbase Global Inc has announced that it has acquired an Unbound security company based in Israel, developing ways to transfer and store cryptocurrencies more easily and securely.

On Tuesday, November 30, Coinbase stated that it acquired Unbound to expand its multi-party computational (MPC) capabilities, gain access to the company’s cryptographic security experts, and launch a research facility in Israel Unbound’s native country.

The Unbound acquisition would enable Coinbase to establish a presence in Israel, where the firm plans to grow its technology research and development centre significantly over time.

Coinbase considers Unbound Security as a leading firm in MPC, a subset of cryptography that allows multiple parties to evaluate a computation without any of them revealing their own private data.

The crypto exchange stated that Unbound’s work in multi-party computation to provide users with the “virtually impenetrable nature of cold, offline storage, with the frictionless convenience of hot, online wallets.”

Coinbase explained that secure multi-party computation is an application of advanced mathematics to enable crypto tokens to be deployed, transferred, and stored more flexibly, securely, and efficiently than ever before.

Coinbase talked about the development and said: “We’ve long recognized Israel as a hot bed of strong technology and cryptography talent and are excited to continue to grow our team with some of the best and brightest minds in these fields. The Unbound Security team will form the nucleus of this new research facility, which we plan to grow over time.”

Since Coinbase generates most of its money from retail trading fees, the crypto exchange is planning to diversify its products and revenues to offer more sustainable growth while also focusing on customer services and ease of use.

In the third quarter, Coinbase’s retail monthly transacting users declined to $7.4 million from $8.8 million in the second quarter as the volatility of crypto prices discouraged trading among small investors.

Coinbase earned $6.4 billion in cash and equivalents during the third quarter, including around $2 billion in net proceeds from issuing senior notes in September. In the past, the firm stated that it planned to use some of the funds for acquisitions.

Coinbase Keen on Developing its Market Share

The Unbound is the latest acquisition made by Coinbase, which has acquired more than 13 companies this year. Earlier last month, the largest US crypto exchange bought India’s Agara, which operates an AI-powered customer support platform, to improve its customers’ services. The cryptocurrency exchange wants to make it easier for users to join the service and seek assistance.

On November 24, Coinbase acquired crypto wallet firm BRD to enhance its web3 adoption further.

In May 2020, Coinbase purchased Tagomi, an advanced cryptocurrency brokerage platform specifically targeted at professionals and institutional investors, to improve its institutional trading offering.

Coinbase also previously purchased firms, including cryptocurrency market analytics firm Skew, blockchain infrastructure company Bison Trails, and data aggregation service Zabo, with each agreement worth millions of dollars.

Kraken Exchange Acquires Non-Custodial Staking Platform Staked

In what stands as its fifth acquisition for the year, the Kraken trading platform has acquired Staked, a non-custodial staking platform for an undisclosed sum.

As announced by Kraken, the acquisition is arguably one of the largest acquisitions in the digital currency ecosystem to date and will help Kraken expand its currently established custodial staking service.

Staked operates as a functional and non-custodial staking platform that enables investors in Proof-of-Stake (PoS) networks to easily and securely compound their holdings. The platform permits all classes of investors, whether retail or institutional, to earn yields without relinquishing their custody of the staked assets.

“We are excited to add Staked to our portfolio of yield products, which has seen great uptake by a growing population of crypto investors,” said Jesse Powell, CEO, and co-founder of Kraken. “Staked is highly complementary to our existing staking business and will allow us to further strengthen our product offering through world-class infrastructure for clients who prefer to retain custody of their staked assets,” Powell added.

Kraken has recorded impressive growth thus far this year with its staking service growing by as much as 950% to nearly $16 billion in November. The company’s combined spot, margin and futures trading volume grew by over 430% in 2021, and the acquisition of Staked remains a way to expand its growth tracks as it remains one of the few trading outfits that has earned a license to operate as a bank in the U.S.

“We’ve become a holistic crypto platform with a diverse range of products that serves the needs of retail, professional, and institutional clients. Heading into the second decade in our company’s history, I’m excited about the future and Kraken’s continued support of the world’s shift to Web3 and DeFi,” Powell added.

Gemini Enters Wealth Management After Acquiring BITRIA

Gemini, a $7.1 billion cryptocurrency exchange, announced Thursday that it has acquired five-year-old San Francisco-based digital asset portfolio management firm BITRIA to provide a digital asset ecosystem for wealth management institutional asset managers.

Gemini said that upon completion of the acquisition, it will seek to integrate BITRIA’s digital asset separate management account (SMA) and digital turnkey asset management platform (DTAMP) into Gemini’s custody and exchange capabilities, offering wealth management advisors SMA construction and maintenance; Portfolio rebalancing; Tax-loss harvesting; Fee collection and billing; Account planning; Data connectivity.

Dave Abner, Head of Global Business Development said that:

“The BITRIA acquisition positions Gemini as the first end-to-end technology platform empowering wealth and asset managers to meet rising demand among their clients for accessing and managing a full range of crypto investments.”

A recent survey from the Pew Research Center has drawn an insight into the popularity of emerging digital currencies amongst Americans. At least 16% of Americans have invested in Crypto.

Regarding the wealth management field, Abner said that there are very few choices for wealthy investors in the cryptocurrency field. “Many financial advisors would only have access to one or two tokens through closed-end funds and spot crypto ETFs,” he mentioned.

So the acquisition is designed to give Gemini access to cryptocurrencies as it moves into the wealth management space to stalk wealthy investors.

In November of last year, American cryptocurrency exchange Gemini raised $400 million through growth equity financing, led by Morgan Creek Digital.

Meanwhile, Coinbase has planned to launch a cryptocurrency derivatives service for retail and institutional clients, announcing the acquisition of derivatives exchange FairX.

According to cryptocurrency insiders, mergers will surge this year as emerging digital asset giants such as Gemini and Coinbase both gain capabilities and expand their product offerings by acquiring promising high-tech companies.