In 2019, Binance reported deals worth $1 trillion; the following year – $1.4 trillion, and a year later, the amount reached $34 trillion. In 2022, the market was feverish, but Binance reported deals worth $23 trillion. No wonder crypto exchanges do not lose their attractiveness in the eyes of investors ready to pay considerable sums to buy them. Let’s look at the top 5 largest deals on the sale/purchase of crypto exchanges.
Circle Acquired Poloniex for the Record Sum
In 2017, the heat of the crypto market attracted new investors to the exchange – by the end of the year, Poloniex had become one of the leading altcoin exchanges.
That same year, Circle began the process of acquiring Poloniex, which was finalised on 26 February 2018. The volume deal is almost $400 million.
The deal was one of the most significant in the industry at the time. After the acquisition of Poloniex, Circle became one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges, allowing the company to offer new services.
Later in 2019, Circle focused on the US and sold Poloniex to Tron founder Justin Sun. Most of Circle’s staff remained at Poloniex, while Justin focused on Asian markets.
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Circle
Circle was founded in 2013 by Jeremy Allaire and Sean Nevins and licensed by US financial regulators. It partners with Goldman Sachs.
Circle launched one of the most popular stable coins on the market – USDC, pegged to the US dollar at a ratio of 1:1.
In November 2022, phishing attacks – hackers posed as Centre employees and swindled crypto-assets from users. In March 2023, the Twitter account of Circle’s CEO was hacked; links from the message led to a phishing site to steal users’ tokens.
Poloniex
Poloniex was founded in 2014 by musician Tristan D’Agosta. At that time he sought a secure digital asset trading platform and was not satisfied with the market offers. Tristan decided to learn programming to create his own crypto exchange.
Thus came Poloniex, one of the first to list USDT and ETH and support many strong altcoin projects, including ETC, Zcash, and AMP.
In 2022, Poloniex entered into a co-operation agreement with Fantom.
In March 2023, Poloniex merged with Huobi, which was 8-10 times larger than Poloniex in daily trading volume.
The first phishing attack on Poloniex was in 2014. The company was silent about the amount of damage; in discussions, 12% of the traders’ funds were mentioned. The operator withdrew 12.3% from users’ accounts to distribute losses among system participants, and later, the exchange compensated everyone. The hack in November 2023 resulted in losses of about $130 million. Justin Sun promised to reimburse the losses and offered the hackers 5% of the stolen amount in exchange for the return of 95% of the funds.
Coinbase Acquired Earn.com
On April 16, 2018, Coinbase bought Earn.com, previously known as 21.co / 21 Inc. This deal allowed Coinbase to expand cryptocurrency earning opportunities.
The transaction estimated value of around $120 million, though this figure is unofficial.
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Coinbase
Founded in 2012 by Brian Armstrong, a former Airbnb engineer, and Fred Ehrsam, an ex-Goldman Sachs trader, Coinbase stands as one of the most recognized crypto exchanges in the United States. It’s user base consists of 56 million across more than 100 countries.
Coinbase is known for being one of the earliest crypto exchanges to secure a license from U.S. financial regulators. Notably, it marked its entry into the public market in 2021 as the first crypto exchange listed on NASDAQ. The platform is actively adopting DeFi and plans to support more decentralised apps and tokens. Besides its commercial pursuits, Coinbase is was established as a charitable foundation supporting education and financial inclusion projects.
Earn.com
The inception of Earn.com dates back to 2013, founded by a team including Matthew Powell, Balaji Srinivasan, and Drake Drazen, initially focusing on Bitcoin mining.
In 2015, it raised $121 million in investments from Andreessen Horowitz, Khosla Ventures, Data Collective, and RRE Ventures. In a short time, it raised more money than any other Bitcoin startup.
In 2017, it changed its strategy and was the first in the segment to focus on monetising users’ data. Earn.com distinguished itself by allowing users to earn cryptocurrency for responding to emails and completing tasks, attracting influential figures like Vitalik Buterin of Ethereum.
NXMH Bought the Significant Bitstamp’s Part
On October 29, 2018, NXMH acquired an 80% stake in Bitstamp, one of the leading and oldest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world and the largest in Europe. This acquisition, valued at approximately $400 million according to unofficial estimates, marked a pivotal moment for both entities and helped Bitstamp expand its services and attract new users.
Notably, Bitstamp’s valuation saw a substantial increase from its $60 million valuation two years prior to the deal, indicating its rapid growth.
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NXMH
NXMH, an investment company with its base in Belgium, the United States, and Korea, is part of the larger NXC corporation based in South Korea, which also owns the cryptocurrency exchange Korbit and the video game developer Nexon.
With a portfolio boasting $2 billion in assets, including stakes in companies like BitFlyer and Circle, NXMH is strategically focused on long-term investments. The company primarily targets European IT startups with the potential for international market penetration, with a particular interest in sectors such as cryptocurrency, fintech, media, AI, and blockchain.
Bitstamp
Bitstamp, established in 2011 by Slovenian entrepreneurs, noted for being the first to offer bitcoin trading.
Over the years, Bitstamp has amassed a user base exceeding 4 million and employs over 300 staff across various countries. The platform supports trading in more than 20 types of cryptocurrencies and has processed over $20 billion in trades.
In 2013, Bitstamp became the first licensed crypto exchange in Europe. In 2016, it received a licence from the Luxembourg regulator to perform payment transactions in all 28 EU countries.
JEX Evolved Into Binance JEX
On September 2, 2019, Binance, one of the world’s foremost cryptocurrency exchanges, completed a deal with JEX to enhance its derivatives capabilities and solidify its standing in the cryptocurrency market. The specifics of the deal, including its value, were not disclosed.
Post-acquisition, JEX integrated into the Binance ecosystem as Binance JEX. The JEX team transitioned to Binance, and all JEX tokens were transferred to Binance. Following the transaction, the JEX token price surged by over 60%, demonstrating the significant impact of this acquisition on the market and the value of JEX within the Binance ecosystem.
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Binance
Founded on July 14, 2017, in China by Changpeng Zhao (CZ), Binance quickly relocated to Japan and later to Malta due to regulatory challenges. CZ’s strategy of global dispersion has led to the company having a ubiquitous presence yet elusive headquarters. Binance’s rapid growth is evident in its rise to the top among global competitors in trading volume within a year of raising about $15 million in an ICO. The company’s staff is estimated at around 8,000.
In 2019, Binance acquired DappReview, and in November 2020, it took over the Indian crypto exchange WazirX, though it later distanced itself from this purchase. In spring 2020, Binance announced the acquisition of CoinMarketCap for $400 million —- an authoritative independent resource about the crypto market. Binance also invested $200 million in Forbes in 2022, following a defamation lawsuit against the media giant in 2020.
There were reports in 2021 of Binance being sold for $400 million, but these claims remain unconfirmed.
In 2023, Binance ceased operations with the Russian Federation and faced legal challenges in the US, including accusations of evading US law and violating derivatives rules. The company settled for a $4.3 billion fine, with CZ pleading guilty to violating the US Bank Secrecy Act, paying a $50 million fine, and resigning from his leadership role at Binance.
VP Capital Acquired Capital.com and Currency.com
On January 20, 2020, VP Capital bought stakes in two popular cryptocurrency exchanges, Capital.com and Currency.com, owned by Said Gutseriev. The deal allowed the company to expand its presence in the crypto market and provide users with new trading and investment opportunities.
The deal, valued at approximately $150 million according to unofficial data, was coincided with Said Gutseriev‘s decision to step back from all crypto projects. This move made Viktor Prokopenya the sole owner of both Capital.com and Currency.com.
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VP Capital
Founded by Viktor Prokopenya, a UK entrepreneur, VP Capital is an investment company with a focus on cutting-edge technologies including AI, AR, computer vision, blockchain, and fintech.
The company maintains a turnover of over $2 billion and has and has offices in Limassol, Kiev, Warsaw, Sofia, Vilnius, New York, London, and Hong Kong.
VP Capital is actively working to comply with customer knowledge regulations (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) — all of its projects operate in a highly transparent and regulated legal environment.
Capital.com
Capital.com is a rapidly growing investment fintech group dedicated to empowering traders of all experience levels. It prides itself on its commitment to education, innovative technology, and transparent pricing.
As a fully CySEC- and FCA-regulated platform, Capital.com provides a secure trading environment and leverages proprietary artificial intelligence technology to offer personalized analytics and educational resources. The platform offers a broad range of investment options in over 3800 globally recognized markets, including stocks, indices, commodities, and cryptocurrencies.
The trading volume of Capital.com is over $88bn, with over 2 million clients.
Currency.com
Currency.com, the blockchain platform for trading digital assets, has become the first fully regulated platform in Eastern Europe. Tthe Traders Union Awards 2022 recognised it the best cryptocurrency exchange.
The platform offers trading of digital and tokenised assets linked to traditional financial instruments such as stocks, bonds and indices. It provides access to over 1,500 digital assets that can be freely converted and exchanged for fiat money and offers high liquidity. Currency.com complies with international AML and KYC standards, offers tight spreads and competitive commissions, and trades with leverage up to 500x.
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