The purchase is scheduled to conclude in the third quarter of 2022.
On June 6, SBF indicated FTX would not reduce or freeze its employment.
A deal has been reached to acquire Bitvo, a Canadian crypto platform, by the cryptocurrency derivatives exchange FTX. Announcing the acquisition of Bitvo on Friday, FTX Trading Limited said that the crypto exchange was looking to expand its product and service offerings in Canada. The purchase is scheduled to conclude in the third quarter of 2022, subject to regulatory clearance and other standard closing conditions, according to the business.
Expansion Despite Recent Market Downturn
Bitvo, created in 2018, is registered as a restricted dealer under the securities laws of all of Canada. The money services company in the virtual asset service provider category is registered with FINTRAC, Canada’s financial intelligence agency. As a result of the purchase, the Bitvo team will be assigned duties throughout the Canadian market and will be part of FTX’s worldwide workforce.
FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried said:
“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.”
It was announced at a time when major cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin (BTC), were seeing their values plummet, including a test of the $20,000 mark. On June 6, SBF indicated FTX would not reduce or freeze its employment as many other crypto businesses, including Coinbase, Gemini, and Crypto.com, have done.
Following the acquisition of BTC derivatives platform LedgerX in 2021, FTX expanded into Asian markets in February by purchasing Japanese crypto business Liquid Group and its subsidiaries. It was reported in May that the crypto business was considering acquisitions of brokerage firms to expand its market share.