Coinbase in Talks to Acquire BtcTurk for About $3.2B: Report

Crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN) is in talks to buy Turkey’s BtcTurk, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, citing a paywalled article by MergerMarket.

• The deal could be worth around $3.2 billion, MergerMarket’s five sources said, according to Bloomberg. A term sheet has been signed and the company is doing its due diligence.
• At least part of the deal could be a share swap, one of the sources told MergerMarket.
• Other crypto exchanges including Binance, OKX and Bybit have set up operations in Turkey, where crypto has been a popular investment because of the local currency’s decline.
• Last month, Brazil's Estadão newspaper said Coinbase was in talks to acquire 2TM, the owner of Mercado Bitcoin, the country's largest crypto exchange. According to the report, which didn't cite sources, negotiations between Coinbase and 2TM had been taking place since last year and an agreement could be announced in late April. After a funding round in November, 2TM was valued at $2.1 billion.
• Founded in 2013, BtcTurk is one of the Turkey's oldest crypto exchanges and counts 4.5 million professional users, according to one of Turkey’s top newspapers, Cumhuriyet. It has recorded $200 million in trading volume in the past 24 hours, compared with $179 million for its biggest local competitor, Paribu, according to CoinMarketCap data.
• Coinbase and BtcTurk didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

UPDATE (April 21, 13:55 UTC): Adds report of talks in Brazil in fourth bullet point.