JPMorgan likely to buy Bithumb Korea

JPMorgan is one of the most potential buyers of Bithumb Korea. China’s cryptocurrency exchange company, Binance, is also in the running as one of its possible purchasers.

Bithumb Korea, a South Korean cryptocurrency exchange that was launched in 2014, is up for sale and several financial institutions are in the race to acquire it. This is the country’s leading cryptocurrency exchange operator, so it has attracted many buyers in and outside of S. Korea.

List of potential Bithumb buyers

As per The Korea Times, JPMorgan has now been included in the list of firms that are interested in Bithumb Korea. The New York City-headquartered investment bank has joined Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank as the leading bidders to acquire the Korean cryptocurrency firm.

Moreover, Visa and the country’s top tech company, Naver, have also expressed their interest in buying Bithumb from its major shareholder, Vidente. Binance is currently operating the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, and it is another strong candidate to acquire the South Korean cryptocurrency firm.

While these big names remained in the list of potential buyers of Bithumb Korea, it is not clear if all of them will continue with their bid to buy the company. This is because the progress of the acquisition deal has been so slow since last year.

It was in august 2020 when the company’s biggest shareholder Bithumb Holdings, began looking for buyers. It got the services of Samjong KPMG to be its adviser in the sale. Mainly, they hired an adviser because of the legal disputes that Bithumb Holdings board chairman Lee Jung Hoon is involved in.

In the previous year, it was Huobi, the Seychelles-based cryptocurrency exchange that was founded in China, that was thought of to be the strongest candidate for Bithumb Korea’s acquisition. It was even reported late last year that the company offered KRW400 billion or $353 million for the purchase. However, since January of this year, Huobi has been quiet since Nexon’s Kim Jung Ju was reported to be interested as well.

Kim was said to have offered KRW500 billion, but Vidante seems to have grown uncertain about the acquisition. It can’t decide whether to sell its stake or buy more, and this contributed to the sluggish progress of Bithumb Korea’s sale. With that said, it is now thought that Nexon’s Kim’s deal to take over Bithumb may have failed.

Naver competing as a buyer

In any case, a local tech company, Naver, is considered as another homegrown firm that can win over the bid of foreign companies. Korea’s Pulse News reported that Naver is eyeing to strengthen its fintech arm, Naver Financial, and having Bithumb Korea is a good move.

With Bithumb, Naver can easily add bitcoin as a payment option in its businesses, and this can also expand the company’s presence in S. Korea’s fintech industry. At any rate, Naver must beat JP Morgan, Binance, Morgan Stanley, and more if it really wants to acquire Bithumb Korea. Finally, with this strong competition, it is possible that stake value could go up to as much as KRW3 trillion or around $2.8 billion.