Binance is set to acquire CoinMarketCap, the deal could be worth as much as $400 million
by Yogita Khatri
The block
March 31, 2020, 3:15AM EDT · 2 min read
Akio Kon/Bloomberg via Getty Images
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Quick Take
-- Binance is in the final stages of talks to acquire CoinMarketCap, The Block has learned
-- The crypto exchange is looking to pay as much as $400 million for the deal, people familiar with the matter told The Block
Binance is in the final stages of talks to acquire CoinMarketCap, The Block has learned.
The crypto exchange is looking to pay as much as $400 million for the deal, people familiar with the deal told The Block.
The cash-and-stock deal is expected to be announced this week. When completed, that would make it one of the largest acquisitions in the crypto space.
Other terms of the deal remain unclear. The Block has reached out to both Binance and CoinMarketCap for comments and will update this story should we hear back.
Just earlier this year, Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao said that there are two acquisitions in the pipeline that he is “very excited” about. These are “major” and will have a “significant impact,” CZ said at the time. The CoinMarketCap deal could be one of those two deals.
It is worth noting that CoinMarketCap has not raised any external funding to date and is “entirely bootstrapped,” Carylyne Chan, chief strategy officer of CoinMarketCap, told The Block last October. “We don't plan to raise any funds soon; we can still continue bootstrapping and scaling at this point," Chan said at the time.
CoinMarketCap is the most popular crypto data aggregator, drawing 207.2 million visitors in the last six months, according to SimilarWeb. Binance, on the other hand, drew 113.8 million visitors in the last six months. CoinMarketCap's traffic is 80% more than that of Binance's.
People familiar with the matter told The Block that CoinMarketCap's ability to drive a significant amount of traffic is one of the major reasons for the acquisition. CoinMarketCap was founded in 2013 by the anonymous Brandon Chez in Delaware, U.S.
Source: SimilarWeb, The Block Research
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Binance, on the other hand, remains the most visited crypto exchange with about 22% traffic share. It is in a neck-and-neck competition with Coinbase, which has a share of about 21%.
 Source: SimilarWeb, The Block Research
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Binance has been on an acquisition spree. The crypto exchange acquired at least nine firms last year, but only a few were announced publicly. These include - wallet provider Trust Wallet, blockchain data startup DappReview; Indian cryptocurrency exchange WazirX and little-known Seychelles-based derivatives platform JEX.
Source: The Block Research
Overall, other largest crypto deals to date include Circle’s acquisition of Poloniex for $400 million; Bitstamp’s acquisition by Belgium-based investment firm NXMH for around $400 million; Coinbase’s acquisition of Earn.com for $120 million; and Kraken’s acquisition of Crypto Facilities for $100 million in 2019, among others.
 Source: Pitchbook, The Block Research
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