Digital assets exchange Bullish acquires crypto news site CoinDesk

The regulated cryptocurrency trading platform Bullish Ltd. said today it has acquired the crypto-focused media company CoinDesk.

Bullish, an exchange run by former New York Stock Exchange President Tom Farley, bought CoinDesk in an all-cash deal. The financial terms of the deal remain undisclosed. Previously Digital Currency Group Inc., the parent company of CoinDesk, acquired the news, events and index company for $500,000 in 2016.

The news comes after a rough year for the media company. At the beginning of 2013, DCG reportedly sought to sell the media company in early 2023 amid falling revenue due to what was dubbed “crypto winter,” after the crypto markets experienced a catastrophic crash in 2022. According to reports, DCG received offers over $200 million at the time.

As crypto markets fell, numerous companies went bankrupt and crashed, and CoinDesk made a name for itself reporting on one of the biggest collapses in the crypto industry. It became the first outlet to report on the balance sheet mismanagement at Sam Bankman-Fried’s quantitative trading company Alameda Research. This reporting ultimately toppled the crypto exchange FTX, leading to its collapse and bankruptcy, the arrest of Bankman-Fried and his eventual conviction.

The ongoing “crypto winter” and bankruptcy of FTX caused DCG subsidiary crypto lender Genesis Global Trading Inc. to file for bankruptcy in January 2023. DCG also closed its wealth management unit HQ and its institutional trading unit TradeBlock later in the year.

Aside from reporting the news, CoinDesk also runs blockchain and cryptocurrency-focused live events and provides real-time market indexes. The company generated about $50 million in revenue last year from online advertising, as well as offering its market indexing service and its live event venues.

CoinDesk laid off 45% of its staff, or about 20 people, in August in preparation for DCG to sell a stake of the company to strategic investors, showing that the company was still planning a sale. At the time, the company was close to formalizing the $125 million deal, but it never materialized.

“With its acclaimed editorial coverage, premier events and market-leading data and indices, CoinDesk continues to shape the global crypto and blockchain ecosystem,” said Bullish Chief Executive Tom Farley. “Bullish will immediately inject capital into several of CoinDesk’s most exciting growth initiatives, which will power the launch of new services, events and products.”

Farley added that with the acquisition, Bullish would stay hands-off and allow CoinDesk and the company would support CoinDesk’s “commitment to journalistic independence.”

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