Report: Main gaming conglomerate Nixon prepares to amass Bithumb

After a troubled few months, crypto change Bithumb appears prefer it’s set on turning over a brand new leaf by an acquisition by one in all South Korea’s high gaming corporations. 

South Korean media reported on Jan. 7 that Nexon, a multi-billion greenback gaming conglomerate, has signed a memorandum of understanding, or MoU, to amass the change at an evaluated value of 650 billion gained ($460 million).

Nexon, led by CEO Kim Seoung-Ju, will reportedly work with one of many main shareholders in Bithumb, Vidente, to purchase out the change and take management of the corporate, crypto journalist and Cointelegraph contributor Joseph Younger has summarized. Based on South Korean media, Nexon plans to take a 65% stake in Bithumb.

Because the report notes, Bithumb’s current shares are buying and selling at a complete worth of 1 trillion gained ($914 million) on the over-the-counter market, that means that the deal, if profitable, will permit Nexon to take over at a “discounted value.”

The sale of the change has reportedly been within the works since late August 2020, with a preliminary bidding held in September at which a variety of monetary and strategic traders, together with home and overseas non-public fairness fund managers, bid for fulfillment.

But the continuing police investigation involving Lee Jung Hoon, chairman of board at Bithumb Korea and Bithumb Holdings, seems to have slowed down the method.

The report notes that the authorized entanglement of the change’s present shareholders, who’re additionally being sued for embezzlement by traders, may make it troublesome for the change to safe the legally required registration as a crypto entity with South Korean authorities. 

An acquisition and alter in administration may clear this regulatory impediment. Younger has commented that Nexon’s acquisition would, extra typically, “enhance the picture round probably the most dominant crypto buying and selling platform within the native market.”

Nexon’s holding firm, NXC, has beforehand invested in cryptocurrency and fintechs, together with the well-known change Bitstamp. Given Bithumb’s prime place as South Korea’s largest crypto change by buying and selling quantity, Nexon’s market dominance is anticipated to profit if the acquisition is profitable. 

Within the third quarter of 2020, the variety of subscribers to Bithumb reportedly exceeded 5 million, and the corporate is claimed to have plans to broaden its merchandise and improve its compliance measures within the hope of securing a digital asset enterprise license.