Crypto Exchange Bullish Acquires CoinDesk

Bullish, a crypto exchange led by former New York Stock Exchange President Thomas Farley, announced Monday it has acquired the crypto news outlet CoinDesk for an undisclosed amount from parent company Digital Currency Group.

The deal is all-cash and is for 100% for the company, the Wall Street Journal reported. CoinDesk CEO Kevin Worth will continue to lead the news outlet as a subsidiary of Bullish and has tapped Matt Murray, the former editor-in-chief of the Journal, to serve as the chair of a newly formed editorial committee to ensure CoinDesk can operate independently, the companies said in their announcement. DCG bought CoinDesk for $500,000 in 2016, and DCG CEO Barry Silbert said in a tweet that that sale made CoinDesk “one of our best investments of all time.”

DCG began exploring a sale for the site last year after the collapse of FTX forced the lending unit of another DCG subsidiary, Genesis, to file for bankruptcy. A CoinDesk report last year about the balance sheet of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried’s trading firm helped kick off the collapse of FTX and Alameda. Bullish is also one of three bidders for acquiring FTX out of bankruptcy.