FTX Close to Buying BlockFi for Just $25M
The beleaguered crypto lender was reportedly close to finalizing a down round valuing it at $1 billion earlier this month.
Jun 30, 2022 at 5:57 p.m. UTCUpdated May 11, 2023 at 6:48 p.m. UTC
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Crypto exchange FTX is close to signing a deal to purchase struggling crypto lender BlockFi for $25 million, according to a person familiar with the matter. The news was first reported by CNBC.
- The deal is expected to be signed by the end of the week, the person familiar with the matter told CoinDesk.
- In response to the reports, BlockFi CEO Zac Prince tweeted this afternoon that "I can 100% confirm that we aren't being sold for $25M. I encourage everyone to trust only details that you hear directly from @BlockFi. We will share more [with] you as soon as we can."
- Earlier this month, BlockFi was reportedly set to close a down round of funding at a valuation of $1 billion, compared to its previous valuation of $3 billion in March of last year.
- FTX had previously given a $250 million credit facility to BlockFi. The lender said in mid-June it was cutting about 20% of its workforce, or roughly 170 people.
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UPDATE (June 30, 18:16 UTC): Removes "report" from headline and adds information in first paragraph.
UPDATE (June 30, 19:03 UTC): Adds Zac Prince tweet in second bullet point.
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Nelson Wang was CoinDesk's news editor for the East Coast. He holds BTC and ETH above CoinDesk's disclosure threshold of $1,000.
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Tracy was the deputy managing editor at CoinDesk. She owns BTC, ETH, MINA, ENS and some NFTs.