FTX Eyes Asia as Bankman-Fried Crypto Acquisition Spree Continues

Key Insights:

• The U.S. crypto exchange has been in discussions with South Korea’s largest exchange, Bithumb.
• Vidente stock surged 30% as news broke that it may sell its stake.
• Sam Bankman-Fried has bucked the bear tread spending $1 billion on crypto acquisitions and loans.

According to reports on July 26, the owner of South Korea’s largest crypto exchange Bithumb is in discussions with Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX (FTT) over a potential buyout.

Vidente, Bithumb’s parent company, is considering selling its stake in the crypto exchange, according to reports. Full acquisition of Bithumb or joint management of the exchange is also on the table. Vidente is a globally recognized manufacturer of high-performance broadcasting equipment.

The company owns a 10.2% stake in Bithumb Korea and a 34.2% stake in Bithumb Holdings. Following the news, its stock surged almost 30% on the Korean Kosdaq exchange.

SBF $1B Acquisition Spree

Crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) has aggressively approached the digital asset downturn by snapping up distressed companies and issuing loans.

Industry researcher Colin Wu posted a graphic of SBF’s moves and crypto acquisitions this year, and he certainly isn’t bothered by the bear market.

Bloomberg has sorted out the acquisition/investment targets of three major companies currently in the hands of SBF. These three major companies are FTX, FTX US, and Alameda. SBF has been buying the dips this year. https://t.co/sAdkuI8v4V pic.twitter.com/0L89nAka2I

— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) July 25, 2022

His latest move would give SBF and his umbrella of companies a stronghold in Asia.

According to a Bloomberg report last week, SBF has committed $1 billion in recent months for crypto acquisitions.

In late June, his FTX exchange agreed to provide crypto lender BlockFi a $400 million credit facility with a potential acquisition on the table. Earlier this year, FTX acquired the Japanese crypto exchange Liquid Group.

In May, Bankman-Fried’s company purchased a 7.6% stake in the stock trading platform Robinhood. It also bought out the popular crypto portfolio app Blockfolio in 2020 for $150 million.

Alameda Research, a quantitative research firm also owned by SBF, provided the embattled crypto broker Voyager Digital with a $485 million loan. On Monday, Voyager rejected an FTX buy-out proposal, calling it “a low-ball bid.”

Alameda has been highly active in the crypto venture capital sector recently. According to CrunchBase, the Hong Kong-based firm has made 173 investments, and it’s most recent was on July 17, when Empiric Network raised $7 million.

FTX has a daily spot trade volume of $1.7 billion, and Bithumb handles around $668 million daily at the moment, according to Coinmarketcap.

Crypto Markets Retreat

SBF is the most aggressive player in the crypto sector at the moment. When the likes of Coinbase, Gemini, OpenSea, Blockchain.com, Huobi Global, BitMEX, and Crypto.com, have been axing staff in recent months, Bankman-Fried’s firms have been scooping up companies.

This is all unfolding as crypto markets continue to show bearish sentiment. There has been little movement over the past 24 hours, with total market capitalization hovering just above $1 trillion, almost 70% down from its all-time high.

Bitcoin (BTC) was changing hands for $21,080, dropping half a percent on the day, while Ethereum (ETH) had fallen 0.7% to $1,425 at the time of writing.