South Korean gaming company Nexon is reportedly in talks to acquire leading cryptocurrency exchange Bitstamp, according to Business Insider.
Sources familiar with the matter told the publication that the deal is likely to be around $350 million. They also revealed that Bitstamp had been involved in at least one other sale process previously, but did not disclose any further detail.
Founded in 2011, Bitstamp is one of the longest running bitcoin exchanges in the world. In 2016, it became the first nationally licensed bitcoin exchange in Europe. It has 3 million registered accounts and 500,000 active trading accounts. The company raised $10 million in a seed round from blockchain venture capital firm Pantera Capital in 2013 and $2.4 million through a crowdfunding campaign in 2017.
Established in 1994, Nexon Group is the company behind the Korean and Japanese versions of Counter Strike and the Korean version of soccer game FIFA Online. It has expanded its operations globally over the years and open NEXON Japan’s office in 2002, NEXON America in 2005, NEXON Europe in 2007 and NEXON was listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange in December 2011.
If the deal goes through, it would be the third major acquisition deal in the crypto space this year. In February, Blockchain payments startup Circle acquired Poloniex. More recently, Monex Group acquired Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck.
