FTX Acquires Liquid Group in Major Eastern Expansion

Crypto exchange FTX is currently in the process of acquiring Japanese fintech company Liquid Group and all of its subsidiaries, according to a press release posted on the latter’s website today.

As part of the deal, FTX will also gain control of Quoine, one of the first Japanese crypto exchanges registered with the country’s Financial Service Agency (FSA) back in 2017. The FSA granted Quoine a Type 1 Instruments Business license, enabling it to offer derivatives to its customers.

While the terms of the deal have yet to be announced, the press release says that the deal is expected to close in March this year. 

If the conditions of the deal are fulfilled, from March 30 onwards, Quoine’s platform will begin to gradually integrate FTX products and services, while FTX’s Japanese customers will be migrated onto the platform. 

FTX’s rapid expansion

The second most popular exchange in the world after Binance, FTX is one of the fastest-growing crypto firms in the world. 

Back in 2020, it acquired the crypto portfolio tracker Blockfolio for $150 million and announced plans to collaborate with the Blockfolio team to develop a retail trading app. The following year, Blockfolio’s trading app was renamed FTX. 

In August last year, FTX helped out Liquid Global–the very company it has just bought–with a $120 million loan to recuperate losses from a $90 million attack that happened when Liquid’s digital wallets were compromised. 

In the first month of this year, the U.S. arm of FTX was valued at $8 billion after a Series A funding round raised $400 million from investors including Paradigm, Temasek, Multicoin Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and SoftBank Vision Fund 2.

FTX raised a further $400 million in a Series C funding round barely a week later. All the investors who took part in the U.S. arm’s Series A funding round also took part in the global corporation’s Series C funding round. The exchange is currently valued at $32 billion.

The exchange has also been on a sponsorship spree in recent months; in March 2021, the exchange bought naming rights to the Miami Heat’s arena for nineteen years, with the venue becoming the FTX Arena.

In the eight months since, FTX has inked deals with Major League Baseball, the Golden State Warriors, Washington Wizards and Capitals and LA esports giants TSM.