Bullish, a new regulated, institutional digital assets exchange led by Tom Farley, a former NYSE president, announced that it has acquired CoinDesk, from Digital Currency Group (DCG).
Bullish plans to invest in CoinDesk’s global expansion and the growth of the media, events, and indexing businesses. CoinDesk will continue to be led by Kevin Worth and the existing management team and operate as an independent subsidiary within Bullish. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
“With its acclaimed editorial coverage, premier events and market-leading data and indices, CoinDesk continues to shape the global crypto and blockchain ecosystem,”
said Tom Farley, CEO of Bullish.
“Bullish will immediately inject capital into several of CoinDesk’s most exciting growth initiatives which will power the launch of new services, events and products. We also want to express our unwavering support for CoinDesk’s commitment to journalistic independence.”
“We are thrilled to partner with Bullish and begin the next phase of CoinDesk’s growth,”
said Kevin Worth, CEO of CoinDesk.
“With renewed momentum in the crypto economy as well as investment from Bullish, we look forward to capitalizing on the many opportunities ahead for product development and expansion. I will always be grateful to Barry for taking a risk on CoinDesk and having the faith in me and our team to build a meaningful and everlasting business that will continue to support the future of digital assets.”
“I’m incredibly proud of CoinDesk’s growth and development over the last seven years, having transformed itself from a small blog about bitcoin into an award-winning media and events company and the most trusted information platform for digital assets,”
said Barry Silbert, Founder & CEO of Digital Currency Group.
“The team has built a multi-faceted global business with tremendous future potential and we look forward to watching them take CoinDesk to the next level in partnership with Bullish.”
Formation of Editorial Committee to Champion Journalistic Independence
CoinDesk also announced that it has appointed Matt Murray, former Editor-in-Chief of The Wall Street Journal, to serve as Chair of its Editorial Committee to ensure journalistic independence.
Murray, who spent five years leading The Wall Street Journal’s 1,300-person newsroom, is a veteran global news leader with 15 years in senior leadership roles.
Worth added,
“This last year has been a difficult period for our industry. It has reminded us all that trust is an absolute essential ingredient for the future of digital assets. CoinDesk will continue our proud independent tradition with Matt’s guidance.”
CoinDesk Business Updates and Momentum
CoinDesk Indices (CDI) is a leading provider of digital asset indices since 2014, benchmarking and supporting funds, ETPs, listed derivatives, managed account platforms, DeFi protocols, and infrastructure data needs. Tens of billions of dollars of assets under management reference CDI products. In 2023, CDI introduced the Bitcoin and Ether Trend Indicators, CESR, and the CoinDesk Ether Total Return Index and expanded its client base in Europe, MENA, APAC, and North America.
CoinDesk Media provides news and analysis on the price movements, technologies, companies and people shaping the evolution of the bitcoin and digital currency ecosystem. In 2023, CoinDesk journalists won the prestigious Gerald Loeb Award and the George Polk Award for exclusive coverage of FTX’s balance sheet and stories on the subsequent collapse of FTX Founder Sam Bankman Fried’s $32-billion crypto business. CoinDesk’s flagship conference, Consensus, is one of most influential festival of the crypto/web3 era and attracted more than 15,000 attendees in 2023, including Fortune 500 CEOs, notable lawmakers, sports and entertainment stars from over 100 countries.
Lazard acted as the sole financial advisor to DCG and CoinDesk on the transaction and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP served as legal advisor. Citi acted as the sole financial advisor to Bullish on the transaction, and Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP served as legal advisor.
