Robinhood Slashes Offer To Buy Crypto Exchange Ziglu by 60%

The offer this week tanked from $170 million to $72.5 million

article-image

Source: Shutterstock

share

key takeaways

  • Early crowdsourcing investors could lose up to 41% of their investments
  • Remaining part of the Robinhood acquisition was the “best and only reasonable path forward for the company,” Ziglu CEO Mark Hipperson said

Robinhood has slashed its offer to acquire London-based crypto exchange Ziglu. 

The acquisition price tag recently went from $170 million to $72.5 million — 60% less than the original price tag, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The purchase was part of Robinhood’s plan to scale its digital assets presence in international markets. The initial deal was struck in April 2022, when Robinhood signed an agreement to acquire the company, which is headquartered in London.

“With Ziglu, UK-based customers can buy and sell eleven cryptocurrencies, earn yield via its ‘Boost’ products, pay using a debit card, and move and spend money, even abroad, without fees,” a Robinhood spokesperson wrote in a blog post at the time. 

Although US-based Robinhood may now be able to expand its operations in the region at a much lower cost, crowdfunding investors who had purchased shares on Seedrs, a UK-based equity crowdfunding platform, have lost out on the move. 

Ziglu crowdfunded for its application on Seedrs in 2020 and in 2021, raising an estimated $15 million at share prices of 34 pounds and 48.30 pounds, respectively. Its latest amended Robhinhood acquisition pegged Ziglu shares at 28.29 pounds — equating to a 41% loss for early investors. 

Ziglu CEO Mark Hipperson justified the downgrade on Seedrs, citing the crypto winter triggered by the downfall of Celsuis, BlockFi and Voyager, and the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.

Hipperson told investors Ziglu’s board spent a significant amount of time negotiating the revised offer and considered “other funding sources and significant cost-cutting measures” — but ultimately decided moving the deal forward was the “best and only reasonable path forward for the company.”

A termination would have left Ziglu in an “extremely challenging market, and undercapitalised for the period ahead,” Hipperson added.

A spokesperson for Ziglu did not immediately return a request for comment.


Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter.

Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. Subscribe to the Forward Guidance newsletter.

Get alpha directly in your inbox with the 0xResearch newsletter — market highlights, charts, degen trade ideas, governance updates, and more.

The Lightspeed newsletter is all things Solana, in your inbox, every day. Subscribe to daily Solana news from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.

Tags

Upcoming Events

Javits Center North | 445 11th Ave

Tues - Thurs, March 18 - 20, 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 (6).png

Research

In recent months, a number of highly accretive developments were implemented across the protocol to improve fee capture, expand product functionality, and ultimately drive value accrual to the RUNE token, with more upgrades on the immediate horizon. These developments include hiking the minimum swap fee parameter to increase revenue, adding a Burn System Income Lever to reduce the RUNE supply, the addition of COSM-WASM smart contracting and IBC to enable an application layer, new chain integrations, and more.

article-image

Permissionless provokes thoughts on the future of crypto as folks engage in pull-up competitions

article-image

Plus, Casey sits with House Majority Whip Tom Emmer to get his views on crypto policy progress

article-image

Blockworks Advisory helps protocols coordinate their launch and growth through white-glove, bespoke services

article-image

The app has just two tabs, one for making swaps and one for viewing your wallet balance