FTX Reportedly in Talks to Buy South Korean Exchange Bithumb

The exchange recently agreed to acquire troubled lender BlockFi and Canadian trading platform Bitvo

article-image

FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried | Blockworks exclusive art by axel rangel

share
  • Conversations about the acquisition have been ongoing for several months, according to Bloomberg
  • Founded in South Korea in 2014, Bithumb has grown to become one of South Korea’s “big four” cryptocurrency exchanges

Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX is looking to buy South Korean crypto exchange Bithumb, according to Bloomberg.

Acquisition talks have been ongoing for several months, a person familiar with the matter told the news outlet. There’s no word on Bithumb’s potential valuation.

The crypto bear market has given companies with larger cash reserves the perfect opportunity to acquire struggling competitors. FTX recently reached a deal to acquire troubled lender BlockFi for up to $240 million and agreed to purchase Bitvo and Embed Financial earlier in June. 

Alameda Research, another company founded by Bankman-Fried, also loaned $500 million to bankrupt crypto lender Voyager. Bankman-Fried is also Voyager’s single largest individual shareholder, holding 11% of the company. 

These moves further strengthen the rumor that Bankman-Fried is actively using the crypto market crash to assert his dominance in the industry.

Chris McCann, a general partner at early FTX investor Race Capital, told Bloomberg that Bankman-Fried is “not doing this out of the goodness of his own heart,” claiming that at this point “his ambitions knows no bounds.”

Founded in South Korea in 2014, Bithumb has grown to become one of South Korea’s “big four” cryptocurrency exchanges, alongside Upbit, Coinone and Korbit. Reports of Bithumb being up for sale have circulated since 2020, with the firm reportedly valued at 1.27 trillion won ($969 million) last year.

It currently handles about $560 million in daily trade volume, according to CoinGecko data.

Bithumb’s former chair Lee Jung-hoon was indicted in July last year after he allegedly swindled $100 million from the chair of BK Group, Kim Byung Gun. Bithumb was also among several South Korean crypto exchanges that were raided by local prosecutors last week, following investigations into TerraUSD’s collapse

An FTX spokesperson declined to comment. Bithumb did not respond to Blockworks’ request for comment by press time.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Research Report Templates.jpg

Research

Figure, founded by former SoFi CEO Mike Cagney, has emerged as a leader in onchain RWAs, with ~$17.5B publicly tokenized. The platform’s ecosystem volume is growing ~40% YoY as it expands beyond HELOCs into student loans, DSCR loans, unsecured loans, bankruptcy claims, and more. Operationally, Figure cuts average loan production cost by ~93% and compresses median funding time from ~42 days to ~10, creating a durable speed-and-cost advantage.

article-image

Former White House crypto official Bo Hines is expected to be the CEO of the new project

article-image

In bonds, stablecoins and billionaires, a reminder of what makes crypto special

article-image

21Shares exec says CPI and PPI data supports a Fed rate cut, with market leaning toward a 25bps decrease

article-image

The Ethereum co-founder suggested LINEA holders would be eligible for other airdrops in cryptic tweet

article-image

The layer-2’s biggest release yet brings benefits — but a post-upgrade outage caused a chain reorg

article-image

Crypto is shifting into risk-on mode — pump.fun dominates meme activity, while Lido leans on treasury maneuvers