Cea mai veche bancă din Thailanda, SCB, achiziționează 51% din pachetul de criptomonede Bitkub

Siam Commercial Bank, Thailand’s oldest bank, has acquired a 51% stake in crypto exchange Bitkub for 17.85 billion Thai baht (around $537 million).

bitkub a anunțat the news on Tuesday, saying that the deal is expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2022, pending regulatory approval.

SCB CEO Arthit Nanthawittaya said the Bitkub acquisition will help “create new growth value in the long term amid a new financial world.”

SCB is not new to the crypto world. The bank operates a venture capital unit called SCB 10X that invests in blockchain and decentralized finance (DeFi) startups. SCB10X is an investor in crypto firms such as Ripple, BlockFi, and Alpha Finance.

As for Bitkub, it is one of the few autorizat crypto exchanges in Thailand.

Recent spate of M&A activity

The Bitkub-SCB deal is one of the largest in crypto as fuziuni si achizitii continue to grow in the space.

Yesterday, Coinbase acquired Agara, an AI-powered customer support platform, reportedly for a price range between $40 million and $50 million. Last week, NYDIG dobândite British bitcoin startup Bottlepay for $300 million. Recently Mastercard dobândite Ciphertrace, FTX.US dobândite LedgerX, and Cboe is pus să dobândească crypto exchange ErisX.