Credit: Bithumb.
Vidente 비텐트, the largest shareholder of Bithumb 빗썸, is in active talks to sell its shares in South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. With the rising price of bitcoin, Bithumb’s enterprise value is estimated to be as much as KRW 3t (USD 2.6b). Bithumb Holdings 빗썸홀딩스 owns 75% of the operating company Bithumb Korea 빗썸코리아. Vidente owns 34.2% of Bithumb Holdings, and an additional 10.3% of Bithumb Korea, giving it a near majority control of the company.
According to CoinMarketCap, Bithumb is a top seven crypto exchange in the world based on a combined score reflecting traffic, liquidity, trading volumes, etc., with a daily trading volume of USD 1.7b. Potential buyers for Bithumb are a diverse group including South Korea’s internet giant Naver 네이버, the world’s largest crypto exchange Binance of China, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank, and Visa.