FTX is Quietly Bidding on Embattled Fintech Services BlockFi and Robinhood
Bill W | 
FTX is acquisition hungry
There are numerous centralized crypto exchanges in the world known as CEXes, but one in particular is beginning to stand out among the rest: FTX. Over the past few weeks, FTX has been making headlines in the news by bidding on embattled fintech companies.
The first of these potential acquisitions was crypto lender/exchange BlockFi. It was reported earlier this week that FTX is in talks with BlockFi to acquire part of the company. However, CoinDesk reported today that investment firm Morgan Creek is now in the competition too. You may have heard about BlockFi from their credit card featuring unlimited 1.5% back in 15+ major cryptocurrencies of choice like Bitcoin and Ethereum. It launched in July, 2021.
Even more important; ZeroHedge reported today that FTX is rumored to be in acquisition talks with fintech trading company Robinhood. They specialize in stocks, but have recently offered full crypto trading services with wallet/withdrawal support after backlash with their IOU trading that had been available for years.
At the height of the meme stock mania in 2020 while Donald Trump was president, Robinhood received immense backlash after pausing the ability to buy stocks such as Gamestop and AMC. Not only this, but Robinhood was fined over $70 million by the federal government due to "systemic system failures" and "false or misleading" statements. Since then, the company has largely failed to revive their reputation.
The future of FTX and its competitors
If FTX succeeds in these acquisitions, then they likely have a higher market value than Coinbase and possibly even Binance. They are also famous for onboarding numerous celebrity brand ambassadors like Tom Brady and Stephen Curry.
Despite their ambitions, they will have to tread cautiously regarding politics, since CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was vocal about potentially spending $1 billion to thwart a Trump reelection campaign. If they're not careful, customers may avoid their platform due to personal beliefs among other reasons.
