FTX acquires Japan’s FCA-licensed crypto exchange Liquid

American billionaire and CEO of crypto exchange FTX Sam Bankman-Fried announced that his company acquired Japanese crypto firm Liquid Group and its subsidiaries. 

As a part of the deal, FTX will acquire Quoine Corporation, a Financial Services Agency (FSA)-approved crypto exchange. As Cointelegraph previously reported, Quoine acquired a Type I Financial Instruments Business license under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act from the Japanese regulatory authorities.

FTX is pleased to announce the acquisition of the Liquid group of companies, including an FSA-registered crypto-asset exchange to provide products and services to our customers in Japan! https://t.co/rO5TznWFCU

— SBF (@SBF_FTX) February 2, 2022

According to the announcement, the partnership will serve retail and institutional investors in the Japanese and global markets:

“Quoine will gradually integrate FTX’s products and services into its own offering, and FTX’s existing Japanese customers will be migrated to Quoine’s platform.”

The agreement also requires FTX to comply with Japanese laws while serving existing Japanese users on its platform. Based on this agreement, FTX will transfer its existing users from Japan to Quoine’s trading platform starting March 30.

While the acquisition is expected to close in March 2022, the economic terms of the deal are yet to be disclosed.

Related: Crypto exchange FTX US closes $400M funding round to reach $8B valuation

Just last week, FTX US achieved an $8 valuation following SoftBank Group Corp-led funding of $400 million.

As Cointelegraph reported, FTX US president Brett Harrison had planned to redirect the funds to expand the crypto exchange’s offerings and a supporting workforce. Following numerous other concurrent investments, FTX exchange as a whole stands at a $32 billion valuation.

Despite concerns raised by experts about a falling crypto market, Bankman-Fried remains bullish:

“I think we’re not entering a long-term crypto winter. There have been changes in expectations of interest rates, and that’s been moving crypto markets. But it’s been moving markets more generally as well.”