Bullish buys CoinDesk from DCG

Bullish, the crypto exchange, announced that it acquired CoinDesk from the Digital Currency Group on Monday.

The terms of the acquisition were not made public. The Wall Street Journal reported that the exchange bought the media company in an all-cash deal.

Bullish announced that the current management team — led by CEO Kevin Worth — would stay in place. An independent Editorial Committee, helmed by former Wall Street Journal Editor-in-Chief Matt Murray, would be created to “ensure journalistic independence.”

“Bullish will immediately inject capital into several of CoinDesk’s most exciting growth initiatives which will power the launch of new services, events and products. We also want to express our unwavering support for CoinDesk’s commitment to journalistic independence,” Bullish CEO Tom Farley said in a press release. Farley, prior to heading into crypto, was the president of the New York Stock Exchange.

Bullish, a subsidiary of Block.one, launched back in 2021. Block.one raised roughly $4 billion in a 2018 initial coin offering — one of the biggest ICOs of all time — and built EOS, an open-source blockchain.

Block.one, the largest bitcoin holder with 164,000 bitcoin (BTC), according to BitcoinTreasuries.net, turned EOS over to community stakeholders following its initial launch and used its bitcoin stash to develop Bullish, which runs on a private version of the software.

Aside from the CoinDesk acquisition, Bullish is also pursuing a perpetual futures trading launch on its exchange, according to the Monday press release.

DCG had been looking to sell CoinDesk since the beginning of this year, following confirmation from Worth. However, due to the bankruptcy of the Genesis lending arm — also a DCG subsidiary — it was evident that DCG would look to sell the media publication.

CoinMarketCap initially expressed interest. However, the acquisition was put on hold back in March.

CoinDesk was acquired by DCG back in 2016 for roughly $500,000.

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