Deribit Hires Financial Technology Partners to Evaluate Acquisition Opportunities: Report

Bitcoin and Ether options trading platform Deribit is reportedly working with a financial adviser to explore strategic acquisition opportunities. The platform has received acquisition offers from interested investors, a Bloomberg report noted.

Deribit has hired Financial Technology Partners (FT Partners) to help assess bids for the company. FT Partners were initially hired by the firm in 2023 to arrange secondary stock sales for existing Deribit investors.

Sources told the publication that the firm may be worth $4 billion to $5 billion or more.

“Over time, we have received interest in strategic investments from a variety of parties, which we will not disclose,” a company statement read.

Digital asset behemoth Kraken is among those that showed interest in Deribit; however, didn’t make a formal buyout offer. “In short, Deribit has not been put up for sale.”

The news arrives at a time when Mergers and Acquisition (M&A) deals in crypto have peaked in the past few months. Publicly announced M&A in the crypto sector has surged to $1.2 billion in the last quarter. According to data from Architect Partners, this is a $400 million from the previous year.

On Monday, crypto payments firm MoonPay acquired Solana-based platform Helio for $175 million. Similarly, Coinbase recently acquired BUX Europe Limited (BEU), a Cyprus-based subsidiary of BUX, to expand its European presence.

Deribit Trading Volume Jumped to $1.2 Trillion

Per the company’s report, Deribit saw almost $1.2 trillion in total trading volume in 2024. This includes its array of services such as options, futures and spot trading. Additionally, the total options trading volume went up 99% to $743 billion last year.

CoinMarketCap data shows that Deribit processed nearly $1.14 billion in trading volume in the past 24 hours.

The exchange, launched in 2016 in the Netherlands, officially relocated to Dubai last year, following its license approval from VARA.