[The article has been updated to include a quote from Calvin Cheng, an advisor to the Hong Kong blockchain investment fund]

BTCC, the company behind the longest-running bitcoin exchange, has announced its acquisition by a Hong Kong-based blockchain investment fund. The terms of the deal have not been disclosed yet.

“Today’s acquisition is an incredible milestone for BTCC that validates all of our hard work over the past few years,” said Bobby Lee, co-founder of BTCC. “I’m very excited about the resources this gives BTCC to move faster and aggressively grow our businesses in 2018 and beyond.”

Furthermore, BTCC officials said the company will now shift its focus exclusively on the international market and its three major products — BTCC Pool, Mobi, and USD Exchange, which will be led by Denver Zhao, Mark Ma, and Aaron Choi, respectively:

• BTCC mining pool, which mined nearly $900 million worth of bitcoins in 2017, allows customers to connect to the pool from all seven continents.
• Mobi, a global multicurrency wallet, was introduced in March 2017, now has customers from over 180 countries.
• BTCC, which traded over $25 billion worth of bitcoins in 2017, will expand its exchange business and continue to provide the most accessible digital currency services going forward.

The announcement comes after BTCC stopped all domestic trading activities in China last year.

Zhao, who has several years of sales experience, said that the acquisition would allow BTCC to realize its vision of global digital currency adoption.

“We now have the resources to realize our vision of a world in which the convenient and trustworthy digital currency services we create get everyone using digital currencies,” Zhao, BTCC’s senior vice president in charge of mining pool business said.

Ma, who has more than 10 years of product design experience at Alibaba and other companies, said the acquisition would allow BTCC to sharpen its competitive edge globally.

“Mobi, the global multicurrency wallet that we introduced in March 2017, now has customers from over 180+ countries,” Ma, BTCC’s vice president of product management, said. “The capital injection we received today gives us a boost towards reaching our goal to grab a dominant market share in the payments and digital currency industries of each of those countries.”

Choi, who has 10 years of startup management experience at RockYou, Tapjoy, Chinapex, and other companies, said BTCC would use its experience operating the longest-running bitcoin exchange to provide the most accessible digital currency services going forward.

“We gathered ample experience, expertise, and customer feedback over seven years of operating the longest-running and most trusted bitcoin exchange,” said Choi. “The acquisition gives us resources to more effectively apply our unparalleled industry knowledge to provide customers with the most accessible digital currency services.”

Lee expressed optimism about BTCC’s future saying, “I’m excited about this new chapter in BTCC’s future — the acquisition poises us for success in 2018 and beyond. The resources we’ll gain and the new set of experienced and talented executives we’ll have joining the BTCC team give us impetus to lead every segment of the digital currency ecosystem, including the pool, payments, and exchange businesses.”

Calvin Cheng, a Singaporean businessman, former Singaporean parliamentarian, and World Economic Forum Young Global Leader who advises the Hong Kong blockchain investment fund, said, “We’re humbled that we were able to acquire BTCC. BTCC has an unparalleled brand and reputation, and we look forward to taking it greater heights of success internationally.”