FTX Acquires Blockfolio For $150M, Aims To Create Retail Trading App

Derivatives exchange FTX has acquired popular portfolio tracking app Blockfolio for $150 million. Paid in cash, crypto and equities, the deal is one of the largest acquisitions in the crypto sector this year.

The deal happened after both companies discussed how they could work together on new products. Blockfolio, which tracks crypto prices and allows users to monitor their crypto portfolio, was hoping to capture the value that comes from crypto trading, news outlet the Block reported.

FTX said it was committed to making Blockfolio bigger. With 6 million users and 150 million impressions per month, the app was popular among retail crypto traders. It was so popular that at the height of cryptocurrency’s boom in 2017, traders used to joke that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies' prices could be estimated depending on how many seconds it would take for Blockfolio to refresh the prices in the app, Cointelegraph reported.

Blockfolio had a lot of takers after Binance’s acquisition of price aggregator CoinMarketCap. It was, however, FTX, that was willing to not just pay the price tag but also commit to align with the app’s missions. "When it comes to the alignment of our missions, which are both very focused on the best experience for the user, there is no exchange moving as quickly or as thoughtfully as the team at FTX,” said Ed Moncada, Blockfolio’s co-founder and CEO.

For FTX, the deal is a chance to bring its sophisticated trading suite to a new retail audience. FTX’s customers are mainly quants and professional traders who are into derivatives, options and leverage tokens. It has been planning to launch a decentralized exchange called Serum, running on the Solana blockchain.

The two companies reportedly are working to create a unique retail trading feature.

"From the beginning, our goal at FTX has been to build the best quality trading experiences with the deepest liquidity for the widest possible cross section of traders," said Sam Bankman-Fried, co-founder and CEO of FTX. Speaking with Cointelegraph, Bankman-Fried said Blockfolio has earned trust within the crypto community and that FTX is thrilled to be able to work with the team that built the popular app.