Former Binance CFO Scoops Philippines Exchange Coins.ph for $190M
The e-wallet and exchange platform is hoping to get a boost to its crypto vertical following an acquisition by Wei Zhou
Makati Skyline at night. Makati is a city in the Philippines’ Metro Manila region and the country’s financial hub. Credit: Shutterstock
key takeaways
- Former Chief Financial Officer Wei Zhou has acquired Coins.ph, a Philippines based e-wallet, for tens of millions of dollars
- The sale to the former Binance executive more than doubles the price paid by Indonesian on-demand multi-service firm Gojek
A former executive of major crypto exchange Binance has acquired Philippines-based Coins.ph in a deal worth double what the former owner, Gojek, paid for.
Gojek, an Indonesian on-demand multi-service firm, offloaded the Asian fintech e-wallet and exchange platform to Binance’s former Chief Financial Officer Wei Zhou for roughly $190 million to $200 million, The Ken reported Sunday.
The hope is that Zhou will rejuvenate the firm’s crypto vertical, which flailed under Gojek’s almost five-year stewardship.
“Gojek didn’t do much with it, which was unfortunate because Coins was the leading crypto wallet in the Philippines,” a senior executive familiar with the company said, as cited in the report.
“With the new management, they’ll revive that part of the business as a crypto wallet and trading platform, making it the Coinbase of Southeast Asia.”
While the figure is not yet public, Zhou confirmed the deal in the report, which also claims the price tag he paid is “at least twice” what Gojek had in 2017 — around $95 million.
Blockworks attempted to contact Zhou, Gojek and Coins.ph to ascertain details of the deal but did not receive an immediate reply.
Zhou, who previously worked at Binance for just under three years, left the major exchange platform last year citing personal reasons. His whereabouts since his departure are largely unknown, though according to a former employee of Binance, he is currently based in Singapore.
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