The cryptocurrency community expressed mixed reactions to reports of leading crypto exchange Binance’s $400 million acquisition of CoinMarketCap.
According to a report by The Block on Mar. 31, Binance is in the final stages of talks to acquire cryptoasset tracking website CoinMarketCap. Sources familiar with the matter said the deal could be worth as much as $400 million and is expected to be officially announced later in the week.
Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao had teased in January that the exchange had two acquisitions in the pipeline they were “very excited” about. In a letter published to the Binance community, CZ called the acquisitions “major” and claimed they would have a “significant impact”.
Members of the cryptocurrency community expressed mixed reactions to news of the potential acquisition.
Reddit user u/earthmoonsun wrote,
$400m for a list of coins and some info about them? How come?
Others pointed to the value of web page traffic and credibility, given CoinMarketCap’s popularity as a resource for tracking crypto prices.
User u/XMRbull said,
Ask craigslist, plentyoffish, etc. Some of the simplest pages on the internet are worth the most money because they're the fastest.
Other users claimed that if a cryptocurrency exchange is going to acquire a cryptoasset platform listing cryptocurrency exchanges, said platform can’t be trusted because its owner has an interest in promoting itself through it. One user wrote:
Rendering CMC as tainted since its parent company will obviously have a vested interest in the information CMC puts out IMO.
According to the Block report, CoinMarketCap has not raised any external funding to date and has been entirely bootstrapped since launching in 2013.
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