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Binance to acquire CoinMarketCap for $400M

114 points by timcc50 6y ago

Avalaxy 6y ago
400 Million?! Maybe I'm missing something, but last time I checked, CoinMarketCap was just a stock ticker website for cryptocurrencies. Where is the value...?
- timcc50 6y ago
  Huge amount of web traffic from crypto traders. I'd imagine they will direct those people to their exchange and make the money back in trading fees.
  - Melting_Harps 6y ago
    It already is the biggest Exchange by a large margin: https://bitcoinexchangeguide.com/binances-crypto-exchange-market-share-continues-to-grow-over-coinbase-bitfinex-and-kraken/ https://bitcoinexchangeguide.com/binances-crypto-exchange-ma... You're telling me you think they'd drop $400 million in HOPES of just getting that back x-fold via trading fees via a convoluted Marketing scheme? That's crazy, but hey... let me use CMC to see how many Alt's have a smaller Market cap than the recent $400 Million purchase price tag. Edit: Forget that, that's a waste of time; I did some legwork on potential IP or exclusive deal and found this from 2 weeks ago: > Crypto Briefing Announces Partnership Integrating Company's SIMETRI Digital Asset Ratings on CoinMarketCap https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200317005241/en/Crypto-Briefing-Announces-Partnership-Integrating-Companys-SIMETRI https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200317005241/en/Cry... That makes more sense, if the assumption is that institutional level investment is primed to get in and CMC's SIMETRI rating system is the seen as the most trusted way in. Which I have serious doubts given how so many Banks and Hedge Funds already have established systems in place. Fidelity being the most notable in the US for example, but are much larger outside of the US.
- tbronchain 6y ago
  I have a theory: they [finance] have (more than) enough cash, and they don't want another exchange to acquire them [cmc] and have so much visibility. It reminds me of ctrip buying Skyscanner, maybe soon a "buy with binance" button for each crypto? More visibility for their platform and BNB?
  - basch 6y ago
    Wouldnt it make as much sense to buy bitpay.com then? Buy something thats already deployed to many customers, and prevent competition from buying it.
- gentaro 6y ago
  You're underestimating the influence CMC has over the space. They determine what exchange volume is legit and what isn't, also what coins are worthy of being listed. At the least, this gives Binance additional stability, at the most, they can really consolidate trading volume at their exchange and for Binance approved coins.
  - Melting_Harps 6y ago
    >They determine what exchange volume is legit and what isn't, also what coins are worthy of being listed. Heh, well this aged well: https://bitcoinist.com/coinmarketcap-new-listing-vote/ https://bitcoinist.com/coinmarketcap-new-listing-vote/ https://bitcoinist.com/binance-listing-2-6-million-fee/ https://bitcoinist.com/binance-listing-2-6-million-fee/
  - jcfrei 6y ago
    The coinmarketcap volume is not legit at all. They created the adjusted volume metric but it's still plain wrong. They currently show a 24h volume of $112Bn and a total market cap of $182Bn - that's just ridiculous.
Melting_Harps 6y ago
Congrats to the CMC team, but I fail to see how barring some special IP this makes sense at that valuation; they're an index that, while useful to an exchange, can't really be worth $400 Million in a current (albeit resilient) crypto Bear Market. Binanace must be wanting to get rid of some Yuan as the CCP is just dumping Billions of it into the Market via bailouts, while people in Wuhan are supposedly coming [1] back online and wanting to 'Revenge shop.' As for the idea of monopolizing such information, sites like Coingecko have been around for nearly as long as CMC, so it makes no sense. The other notable purchases Binance as made have been other exchanges, and a news site in China, which make actual sense to strengthen their position or get a foot-hold in other Markets in their core business as an exchange. 1: https://oklahoman.com/article/5659041/time-to-revenge-shop-chinas-virus-hot-spot-reopens https://oklahoman.com/article/5659041/time-to-revenge-shop-c...
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- twox2 6y ago
  I think it's because they have a massive audience, and along with that comes influence and marketing/advertising opportunity.
londons_explore 6y ago
Perhaps this isn't $400M in cash, but instead is $400M in binance-coins, which are virtually worthless, but make crypto startups appear much more valuable.
- Melting_Harps 6y ago
  You mean this: https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/binance-coin/ https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/binance-coin/ Which would effectively give them close to 1/4 of the entire token supply, which they could dump at any time and disrupt Binances financials? That's worse than giving them cheaply printed fiat from all of these bailouts/stimulus.
  - londons_explore 6y ago
    Could be... But paid in newly issued coins, over a period of 250 years, with a break clause exercisable by either party at any time...
  - cryptica 6y ago
    Agreed. The bailout money will go straight into crypto. I predict that people are going to start taking out bank loans at 0% interest to buy crypto. Crypto assets have a very unusual attribute that they cannot always be recovered in case of bankrupcy because only the owner knows the private key to their wallet and they can claim to have 'lost their keys'. Cryptocurrencies therefore offer a decentralized mechanism to allow people to convert their ever inflating debt-money (which is not even their own money) into money that is their own and in limited supply. Is it unethical? Yes, but we all know what happens when everyone start doing the wrong thing; it becomes OK. That's how fiat money came about; it's also highly unethical (compared to gold-backed currency), but when all the banks started loaning money backed by gold which they didn't actually have, it became OK too. Our financial system's incentives which reward reckless behavior are going to be its own demise.
    - MadSudaca 6y ago
      Ironically, if cryptocurrency succeeds, it will only help to put another nail in the marxist coffin.
blatchcorn 6y ago
Waste of money
csomar 6y ago
To the suspicious, CMC is more than a crypto prices list: https://coinmarketcap.com/api/pricing/ https://coinmarketcap.com/api/pricing/ They also have several openings: https://jobs.coinmarketcap.com/employers/293118-coinmarketcap?utm_source=coinmarketcap&utm_content=footer https://jobs.coinmarketcap.com/employers/293118-coinmarketca...
- maxencecornet 6y ago
  I'm one of the paying client for the API, people in the comments fail to understand that CMC API has many paying customers
  - Melting_Harps 6y ago
    > I'm one of the paying client for the API, people in the comments fail to understand that CMC API has many paying customers Ok, I'll bite as I think I have somewhat of an idea what their underlying value is from this service, even though I admit I don't trade; do you honestly believe that without that rating system offered to the Institutional Investment crowd I mentioned earlier they'd be at even a fraction of their valuation/purchase price? I ask because gaining a paying client list, which is probably a rounding error in comparison to Binance's current accrued trading fees, cannot really be the main selling point for this deal. Especially when investing in various cryptocurrencies itself is likely to have a higher risk-reward ratio than this API being the best thing since Bitcoin's Layer 2. It's at best a (minor) value added service, in comparison to the potential of targeting and capturing the (predicted?) incoming waves capital flight risk, now that all this hot money is entering the Economy from China, US, EU, Australia, UK etc...
    - maxencecornet 6y ago
      >do you honestly believe that without that rating system offered to the Institutional Investment crowd I mentioned earlier they'd be at even a fraction of their valuation/purchase price? Standard license is $299/ mo, even with only 3000 paying customers, and there are likely way more than 3000 paying customers, that would be $10M a year in revenue CMC is a good asset and a valuation/purchase price of $400M is a fair price for the API product only, let alone the ranking /rating aspect
laCorona 6y ago
Well I guess it's time to find a different website to check Bitcoin prices.
mrkramer 6y ago
Holy moly $400m for website that aggregates crypto coins data. Congrats to Coinmarketcap. I remember first using it in 2013, it was just another crypto website but it became the most popular soon after.
pretfood 6y ago
Bye bye impartiality
Proven 6y ago
LOL!!! Like pets.com, only totally worthless
seibelj 6y ago
$400 million for a consumer-facing analytics company with some SaaS data streams. HN can hate on crypto all it wants, but that's a real startup success! Great work CMC
ianhawes 6y ago
Nomics[0] is a viable alternative for those that are now suspect of CMC. [0] https://nomics.com https://nomics.com
- dylkil 6y ago
  prices are incorrect for me, says eth price is 101eur when its actually 120eur

114 points by timcc50 6y ago

400 Million?! Maybe I'm missing something, but last time I checked, CoinMarketCap was just a stock ticker website for cryptocurrencies. Where is the value...?

timcc50 6y ago
Huge amount of web traffic from crypto traders. I'd imagine they will direct those people to their exchange and make the money back in trading fees.
- Melting_Harps 6y ago
  It already is the biggest Exchange by a large margin: https://bitcoinexchangeguide.com/binances-crypto-exchange-market-share-continues-to-grow-over-coinbase-bitfinex-and-kraken/ https://bitcoinexchangeguide.com/binances-crypto-exchange-ma... You're telling me you think they'd drop $400 million in HOPES of just getting that back x-fold via trading fees via a convoluted Marketing scheme? That's crazy, but hey... let me use CMC to see how many Alt's have a smaller Market cap than the recent $400 Million purchase price tag. Edit: Forget that, that's a waste of time; I did some legwork on potential IP or exclusive deal and found this from 2 weeks ago: > Crypto Briefing Announces Partnership Integrating Company's SIMETRI Digital Asset Ratings on CoinMarketCap https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200317005241/en/Crypto-Briefing-Announces-Partnership-Integrating-Companys-SIMETRI https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200317005241/en/Cry... That makes more sense, if the assumption is that institutional level investment is primed to get in and CMC's SIMETRI rating system is the seen as the most trusted way in. Which I have serious doubts given how so many Banks and Hedge Funds already have established systems in place. Fidelity being the most notable in the US for example, but are much larger outside of the US.
tbronchain 6y ago
I have a theory: they [finance] have (more than) enough cash, and they don't want another exchange to acquire them [cmc] and have so much visibility. It reminds me of ctrip buying Skyscanner, maybe soon a "buy with binance" button for each crypto? More visibility for their platform and BNB?
- basch 6y ago
  Wouldnt it make as much sense to buy bitpay.com then? Buy something thats already deployed to many customers, and prevent competition from buying it.
gentaro 6y ago
You're underestimating the influence CMC has over the space. They determine what exchange volume is legit and what isn't, also what coins are worthy of being listed. At the least, this gives Binance additional stability, at the most, they can really consolidate trading volume at their exchange and for Binance approved coins.
- Melting_Harps 6y ago
  >They determine what exchange volume is legit and what isn't, also what coins are worthy of being listed. Heh, well this aged well: https://bitcoinist.com/coinmarketcap-new-listing-vote/ https://bitcoinist.com/coinmarketcap-new-listing-vote/ https://bitcoinist.com/binance-listing-2-6-million-fee/ https://bitcoinist.com/binance-listing-2-6-million-fee/
- jcfrei 6y ago
  The coinmarketcap volume is not legit at all. They created the adjusted volume metric but it's still plain wrong. They currently show a 24h volume of $112Bn and a total market cap of $182Bn - that's just ridiculous.

Melting_Harps 6y ago

Congrats to the CMC team, but I fail to see how barring some special IP this makes sense at that valuation; they're an index that, while useful to an exchange, can't really be worth $400 Million in a current (albeit resilient) crypto Bear Market. Binanace must be wanting to get rid of some Yuan as the CCP is just dumping Billions of it into the Market via bailouts, while people in Wuhan are supposedly coming [1] back online and wanting to 'Revenge shop.' As for the idea of monopolizing such information, sites like Coingecko have been around for nearly as long as CMC, so it makes no sense. The other notable purchases Binance as made have been other exchanges, and a news site in China, which make actual sense to strengthen their position or get a foot-hold in other Markets in their core business as an exchange. 1: https://oklahoman.com/article/5659041/time-to-revenge-shop-chinas-virus-hot-spot-reopens https://oklahoman.com/article/5659041/time-to-revenge-shop-c...

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
twox2 6y ago
I think it's because they have a massive audience, and along with that comes influence and marketing/advertising opportunity.

londons_explore 6y ago

Perhaps this isn't $400M in cash, but instead is $400M in binance-coins, which are virtually worthless, but make crypto startups appear much more valuable.

Melting_Harps 6y ago
You mean this: https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/binance-coin/ https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/binance-coin/ Which would effectively give them close to 1/4 of the entire token supply, which they could dump at any time and disrupt Binances financials? That's worse than giving them cheaply printed fiat from all of these bailouts/stimulus.
- londons_explore 6y ago
  Could be... But paid in newly issued coins, over a period of 250 years, with a break clause exercisable by either party at any time...
- cryptica 6y ago
  Agreed. The bailout money will go straight into crypto. I predict that people are going to start taking out bank loans at 0% interest to buy crypto. Crypto assets have a very unusual attribute that they cannot always be recovered in case of bankrupcy because only the owner knows the private key to their wallet and they can claim to have 'lost their keys'. Cryptocurrencies therefore offer a decentralized mechanism to allow people to convert their ever inflating debt-money (which is not even their own money) into money that is their own and in limited supply. Is it unethical? Yes, but we all know what happens when everyone start doing the wrong thing; it becomes OK. That's how fiat money came about; it's also highly unethical (compared to gold-backed currency), but when all the banks started loaning money backed by gold which they didn't actually have, it became OK too. Our financial system's incentives which reward reckless behavior are going to be its own demise.
  - MadSudaca 6y ago
    Ironically, if cryptocurrency succeeds, it will only help to put another nail in the marxist coffin.

blatchcorn 6y ago

Waste of money

csomar 6y ago

To the suspicious, CMC is more than a crypto prices list: https://coinmarketcap.com/api/pricing/ https://coinmarketcap.com/api/pricing/ They also have several openings: https://jobs.coinmarketcap.com/employers/293118-coinmarketcap?utm_source=coinmarketcap&utm_content=footer https://jobs.coinmarketcap.com/employers/293118-coinmarketca...

maxencecornet 6y ago
I'm one of the paying client for the API, people in the comments fail to understand that CMC API has many paying customers
- Melting_Harps 6y ago
  > I'm one of the paying client for the API, people in the comments fail to understand that CMC API has many paying customers Ok, I'll bite as I think I have somewhat of an idea what their underlying value is from this service, even though I admit I don't trade; do you honestly believe that without that rating system offered to the Institutional Investment crowd I mentioned earlier they'd be at even a fraction of their valuation/purchase price? I ask because gaining a paying client list, which is probably a rounding error in comparison to Binance's current accrued trading fees, cannot really be the main selling point for this deal. Especially when investing in various cryptocurrencies itself is likely to have a higher risk-reward ratio than this API being the best thing since Bitcoin's Layer 2. It's at best a (minor) value added service, in comparison to the potential of targeting and capturing the (predicted?) incoming waves capital flight risk, now that all this hot money is entering the Economy from China, US, EU, Australia, UK etc...
  - maxencecornet 6y ago
    >do you honestly believe that without that rating system offered to the Institutional Investment crowd I mentioned earlier they'd be at even a fraction of their valuation/purchase price? Standard license is $299/ mo, even with only 3000 paying customers, and there are likely way more than 3000 paying customers, that would be $10M a year in revenue CMC is a good asset and a valuation/purchase price of $400M is a fair price for the API product only, let alone the ranking /rating aspect

laCorona 6y ago

Well I guess it's time to find a different website to check Bitcoin prices.

mrkramer 6y ago

Holy moly $400m for website that aggregates crypto coins data. Congrats to Coinmarketcap. I remember first using it in 2013, it was just another crypto website but it became the most popular soon after.

pretfood 6y ago

Bye bye impartiality

Proven 6y ago

LOL!!! Like pets.com, only totally worthless

seibelj 6y ago

$400 million for a consumer-facing analytics company with some SaaS data streams. HN can hate on crypto all it wants, but that's a real startup success! Great work CMC

ianhawes 6y ago

Nomics[0] is a viable alternative for those that are now suspect of CMC. [0] https://nomics.com https://nomics.com

dylkil 6y ago
prices are incorrect for me, says eth price is 101eur when its actually 120eur