Bitstamp has been acquired by a Belgium-based investment company NXMH

Bistamp, the largest european cryptocurrency exchange, has been acquired by NXMH, a Belgium-based investment company, which is a subsidiary of South Korean media conglomerate NXC. In the official statement, Bitstamp's CEO Nejc Kodrič said that the while the company has been regularly approached with offers for quite some time, the reason it accepted an offer now is "a combination of the quality of the buyer, the quality of the offer and the fact that the industry is at a point where consolidation makes sense." Mr. Kodrič added that "a major factor in agreeing to the sale is that the mission, leadership and vision of the company remains the same." The details of the acquisition are not known, the price was rumored to be about $350 million in April 2018. Bitstamp raised funding in December 2016 at a $60 million valuation. Mr. Kodrič as well as Pantera Capital will reportedly retain a minority ownership stake. Korea’s second largest exchange Korbit sold to NXMH's parent NXC in September 2017.