Coindesk Nears $125 Million Sale Amid Parent DCG's Financial Woes

  • A consortium of investors is in the final stages of acquiring crypto news outlet CoinDesk. 
  • CoinDesk is owned by the Digital Currency Group (DCG), which is currently embroiled in a lawsuit with its creditors. 
  • Coindesk has been on the market since January 2023, following instability at its parent company. 
  • Crypto exchange Binance was previously looking to acquire the crypto news website for around $75 million. 

A consortium of investors is reportedly in the final stages of purchasing CoinDesk, which is one of the largest crypto news outlets in the world. Owned by Barry Silbert’s crypto conglomerate Digital Currency Group (DCG), CoinDesk has been on the market since January 2023, following financial instability at its parent company. 

DCG Plans To Retain A Stake In CoinDesk Post Sale

According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, the consortium of investors is led by Matthew Roszak of blockchain-focused venture capital firm Tally Capital, and Peter Vessenes from Captial6, a venture capital and private equity firm. People familiar with the matter revealed that the deal, which is valued at $125 million, is in the final stages. 

CoinDesk’s parent company Digital Currency Group will reportedly retain a stake in the crypto news outlet, which it bought for $500,000 in 2016. DCG’s stake would cover media, events, data, and index business. As per WSJ, the current management is expected to be retained by CoinDesk’s new owners. 

Earlier this year, CoinDesk hired investment bank Lazard Ltd to explore a partial or full sale. At the time, CEO Kevin Worth revealed that the company had received “numerous inbound indications of interest”. One of these was from crypto giant Binance, which was looking to acquire CoinDesk for about $75 million. The offer was considerably less than early estimates, which indicated that the crypto news website could fetch as much as $300 million. 

CoinDesk went on the market right around the time when DCG’s subsidiary Genesis filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. At the time, DCG was facing allegations of financial discrepancies surrounding its liability to subsidiaries like Genesis. Earlier this month, DCG and its founder Barry Silbert were sued for fraud by the Winklevoss-owned crypto exchange Gemini, adding to the company’s woes. 

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