Crypto exchange FTX to buy Japanese rival Liquid for Asia expansion

cnbc.com:

FTX, the cryptocurrency exchange owned by billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried, is buying Japanese rival Liquid for an undisclosed sum.

The company said Wednesday it had entered into an agreement to acquire Liquid and all its operating subsidiaries, including Quoine Corporation and its Singapore-based unit. Quoine was one of the first crypto exchanges to obtain registration with Japan's Financial Services Agency in 2017.

FTX said it expects the acquisition of Liquid to close by March 2022. The deal is subject to regulatory and shareholder approval.

«Following FTX's acquisition of Liquid, Quoine will gradually integrate FTX's products and services into its own offering, and FTX's existing Japanese customers will be migrated to Quoine's platform,» Liquid said in a statement Wednesday.

«In connection with this acquisition, FTX has also entered into an agreement with Liquid to provide its existing Japanese users with services in compliance with Japanese laws, and will transfer its existing Japanese users to Quoine.»

FTX, which earlier this week announced it had raised $400 million at a $32 billion valuation, is expanding aggressively in the Asian crypto market at a time when competition in the space is heating up.

Bankman-Fried told CNBC a large focus for the firm was acquiring licenses in several countries.

Traditional lenders like Japan's SBI and Singapore's DBS have been making moves in the space to capitalize on crypto's wild growth. SBI is a minority shareholder in a number of crypto start-ups, including the $15 billion company Ripple, while DBS has set up its own digital asset exchange.

Founded in 2014, Liquid is one of the world's largest crypto exchanges by volume, with nearly $72 million in daily trading volumes, according