FTX plans to acquire Bitvo to expand services to Canada

FTX, one of the largest cryptocurrency derivatives exchanges, is planning to enter the Canadian market. The exchange has announced a planned acquisition of the Bitvo exchange to support this move.

FTX plans to acquire Bitvo

FTX Trading Limited issued an announcement on Friday saying that it wanted to acquire Bitvo as part of its efforts to provide a wide range of crypto-related products to users based in Canada.

The exchange has said that the acquisition deal is expected to be finalized within the third quarter of 2022. However, this deal was “subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions.”

The CEO of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, commented on the development, saying, “We are delighted to enter the Canadian marketplace and continue to expand FTX’s global reach. Our expansion into Canada is another step in proactively working with cryptocurrency regulators in different geographies across the globe.”

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This is not the first acquisition that FTX is making to expand its global operations. Besides acquiring Bitvo, FTX also announced the acquisition of Liquid Group, a cryptocurrency company based in Japan. The acquisition was done in February alongside the company’s subsidiaries as part of FTX’s plans to expand the exchange’s operations in Asia.

In 2021, FTX acquired LedgerX, a Bitcoin derivatives platform. In May, it was reported that the exchange was also looking into more acquisitions. The company is planning to acquire brokerage startups as part of the plan to offer stock trading services.

Acquisitions amid market downturn

The past few weeks have been marked by a sharp recession across the cryptocurrency market. On Saturday, Bitcoin’s price fell below $20,000 for the first time since 2020, while Ether (ETH) fell below $1000 for the first time since January 2021.

The recession is putting a strain on crypto-based companies. Some cryptocurrency companies such as Coinbase, Gemini, and CryptoCom have announced plans to lay off staff amid the ongoing recession. Bankman-Fried has announced that the exchange will not lay off its staff or freeze any ongoing hiring process.

Some exchanges such as Binance and Kraken are expanding their workforce amid this recession. However, some firms are forced to halt services to mitigate the bear market. Celsius Network and Babel Finance are among the DeFi platforms that have halted withdrawals because of the market dips. Voyager Digital has also secured a $200M loan from Alameda to mitigate the current market conditions.

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