The largest crypto exchange platform by volume in the world is reportedly looking into the benefits of acquiring banks.
According to a new report by Bloomberg, Binance is weighing the pros and cons of purchasing banking institutions as traditional finance becomes increasingly interconnected with the digital assets industry.
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao says that the firm is planning on bridging the gap between digital assets and traditional finance.
Zhao made his statements at a crypto conference in Portugal, according to the report,
“There are people who hold certain types of local licenses, traditional banking, payment-service providers, even banks. We’re looking at those things. We want to be the bridge between crypto and the traditional, financial world.”
Zhao went on to say that the value of banking institutions tends to increase exponentially as they sign agreements with Binance because the crypto exchange tends to onboard new users to them, something he wants to capitalize on.
“What we have found is when banks work with us, we drive so many users to them, so the bank’s valuation goes up exponentially, like why don’t we just invest in them as well, so that we capture some of the equity upside.”
Previously, Binance said it had set aside about $1 billion to spend on acquisitions. At the time, Zhao said Binance was focused on purchasing troubled crypto lending firms that faced financial hardships due to the bear market that started in May.
Just this week, Binance committed $500 million to billionaire Elon Musk’s buyout of social media giant Twitter, saying that the investment was priceless because social media and Web3 will fuse with Musk at the company’s helm.
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