Cryptocurrency derivatives exchange FTX has acquired Blockfolio, the market's leading mobile news and portfolio monitoring app, for $ 150 million. The price was paid in cash, cryptocurrency and stocks, the companies said.
"Opening the door to a more mainstream and mobile audience"
Officially announced Wednesday morning in Asia, the deal is a strategic game for FTX, whose clientele is largely made up of professional traders, to attract more retail clients. FTX isn't "just acquiring intellectual property," said FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried.
The merger of the two companies aims to “build a new standard of quality in retail trading experiences,” said Ed Moncada, CEO of Blockfolio. Thanks to the resources and experience from FTX, the deal puts both teams in a position to "open the door to a more mainstream and mobile audience" in the cryptocurrency industry, said Paul Veradittakit, Board Member of Blockfolio. and the Co-Investment Office of Pantera Capital. His company co-starred in Blockfolio's Series A round.
A historic agreement
Nine months ago, companies began discussing plans to jointly build a retail-focused crypto product. Those discussions eventually turned into talks focused on a possible merger.
The acquisition was mainly negotiated by Moncada and Bankman-Fried, which also manages quant trading firm Alameda Research. Blockfolio, based in Santa Monica, California, was assisted throughout the process by Spartan Group, a consulting firm specializing in blockchain and related industries, and Mike Novogratz's investment bank Galaxy Digital, Moncada said.
FTX has grown very fast since its founding last year. According to CryptoWatch, the exchange, based in the Caribbean state of Antigua and Barbuda as Bitcoin Pro, ranks first for trading book liquidity and seventh for 24-hour volume.
Founded in 2014, Blockfolio boasts over 6 million downloads. The news app and portfolio tools average over 150 million hits each month. The deal appears to be the sixth largest acquisition in the history of the cryptocurrency industry.
It is ahead of the acquisition of BitTorrent by the Tron Foundation ($ 125 million) and behind the merger of Lightyear.io with Chain, the agreement that gave birth to Interstellar ($ 350 million).
Binance has reportedly paid $ 400 million for CoinMarketCap, which, if true, would put it in a three-way tie for first place with Circle's 2018 acquisition of Poloniex and purchase by of NHMX of an 80% stake in Bitstamp.
