Is
Binance planning to buy cryptocurrency media? This is what seems to emerge from negotiations that have taken place to buy the American media CoinDesk. Zoom in on the new ambitions of the sprawling company
Binance considering CoinDesk takeover
According to a report from Blockworks, Binance Capital Management has been exploring ways to buy CoinDesk. As a reminder, the media outlet has been in trouble, as it is part of the Digital Currency Group. Its CEO Kevin Worth confirmed that it was on the market in January.
Binance Capital Management was therefore planning to buy CoinDesk via its subsidiary CoinMarketCap, which will itself be acquired by Binance in 2020. Estimates put the media’s value at around $300 million – it has become the leader in the United States since its acquisition by Digital Currency Group in 2016. It has been responsible for some of the revelations about the Alameda Research/FTX affair.
But discussions between Binance and CoinDesk are reportedly currently at a standstill. The fear is that a takeover by Binance would cause a mass exodus of the media’s journalists. Moreover, the legitimacy of the latter would almost certainly be called into question, as well as its neutrality. This is reminiscent of CoinMarketCap, which has been accused several times of favouring its buyer Binance in its rankings. Binance clearly wants to avoid further accusations of this kind.
Binance is reportedly starting to take an interest in the media
For his part, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao denied his company’s interest in CoinDesk… Before deleting his tweet a few hours later. He later clarified that his company might have been interested, but was not planning a buyout:
Not “on hold”. Not buying.
It may be a good business. But not a fit in our geographic coverage.
– CZ Binance (@cz_binance) March 14, 2023
The possible takeover of CoinDesk by Binance will therefore clearly not materialise, but the discussions that have taken place give clues to the company’s ambitions. Especially since Changpeng Zhao says that it could be a good company, but the reason it is not positioning itself is that its geographical positioning is not suitable.
This suggests that the company’s interest in the media is there. However, according to the sources cited by Blockworks, there is still a fear that the media will be seen as non-neutral once acquired by Binance. Hesitations are therefore understandable. All this confirms that Changpeng Zhao’s empire wants to continue to expand into various areas of cryptocurrencies.
