After Voyager Bid, CrossTower Eyes Further Acquisitions

The FTX implosion may have dented investor confidence and extended the crypto winter, but that does not appear to be a hurdle for many exchanges from pursuing expansion via mergers and acquisitions.

One such is – CrossTower – a crypto exchange that is reportedly considering new acquisitions of different types of companies with a good set of customers with them and a positive balance sheet.

Risk Appetite for Acquisitions

CrossTower’s CEO Kapil Rathi said investors are “cautious” given that the current crypto market sentiment has soured. According to a Bloomberg report, the exec asserted that the company is in a “great place” despite the incessant bear market. The exec also added,

“We’re in a great place to either acquire entities who have a good set of customers with them and a good balance sheet. So we are openly looking at different types of companies from an organic growth perspective.”

The company’s President, Kristin Boggiano, revealed in a statement that CrossTower had “minimal exposure” to the collapse of the bankrupt crypto firm FTX. The company is also reportedly looking to establish a rescue venture fund along with several of its backers. Rathi, however, maintained that the firm currently has no plans to contribute to Binance’s recovery fund created to support distressed projects.

Voyager Bid

The acquisition development comes weeks after CrossTower announced plans to revise the offer for the assets of Voyager Digital. As reported earlier, FTX US secured the winning bid for the assets of approximately $1.4 billion of the bankrupt crypto lender.

The assets’ sale would be completed after a Chapter 11 plan and an asset purchase agreement was approved by the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

However, FTX and over 100 of its affiliated entities, including FTX US, filed for bankruptcy on November 11. This prompted Voyager to reopen its bidding process, and the new revised offer from CrossTower came on the same day.

CrossTower’s President does not believe Voyager’s own $3 million in exposure to FTX is a concern compared to the potential value of its business. She added,

“Three divided by $1.3 billion is a very small number.”

Other companies in the race to buy out Voyager’s assets include asset manager Wave Financial, which had participated in its previous auction, as well as the US arm of CZ-led crypto exchange Binance.