The world’s largest crypto exchange BINANCE seems to be diversifying its portfolio. The firm is reportedly looking to acquire crypto news giant CoinDesk through Binance Capital Management (BCM). The crypto news firm has been eyeing an acquisition since January this year after financial instability at its parent firm Digital Currency Group (
Binance’s CoinDesk acquisition deal is currently on hold
According to a report by Blockworks, CoinDesk has been an acquisition target for Virgin Islands-based BCM over the past few weeks. People familiar with the matter revealed that the acquisition will be made through Binance-owned crypto data aggregator site CoinMarketCap, which is registered in Delaware, U.S. However, the deal is reportedly on hold at the moment. The sources revealed that initial negotiations between Binance and CoinDesk broke down amid fears of a mass EXODUS of journalists from the news agency if Binance became its majority owner.
One of the stars of Digital Currency Group’s impressive crypto portfolio, CoinDesk first went onto the market back in January after CEO Kevin Worth confirmed that the news agency was for sale. This was around the time when CoinDesk’s sister firm Genesis filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as allegations of financial discrepancies at DCG were coming to light.
The crypto news agency hired investment bank Lazard Ltd to explore a partial or full sale. Worth told at the time that his firm had received “numerous inbound indications of interest”. Early estimates suggested that CoinDesk may fetch as much as $300 million. However, sources familiar with the matter have revealed that the value of a potential deal would be in the vicinity of $75 million. The firm was acquired by Barry Sibert’s Digital Currency Group back in 2016 for around $500,000.
