Exchange Acquisition Consolidates Finland's Bitcoin Market

Finnish bitcoin broker Prasos has acquired Helsinki-based digital currency exchange Coinmotion for an undisclosed sum.

The acquisition of the exchange by Prasos – which operates a different bitcoin exchange called Bittiraha.fi, as well as a bitcoin ATM network in Finland – follows a trend of exchange consolidation in the past year.

While Prasos, which has headquarters in Jyväskylä, Finland, declined to disclose the buy price, it say the cash deal involved the purchase of the Coinmotion platform along with its customer base.

While none of the exchange staff will stay with the firm through the transition, Prasos indicated that some elements of the outgoing team may in future work on the platform on a contract basis.

Coinmotion

went live under the new management on 23rd February.

International plans

Prasos co-founder and CEO Henry Brade told CoinDesk the deal gives Prasos the ability to compete in the broader European exchange market, as well as in other regions, saying:

“We believe we can take on players like Coinbase etc, in more places than just Finland. We differentiate ourselves in one major way from all other major exchanges – we try to ask our customers as few questions as possible."

In the interview, Brade said his company began discussing an acquisition with the Coinmotion team in the spring of 2015.

Brade framed the acquisition as a means for Prasos to expand its services, with the exchange proving the ability to offer features it previously could not.

“Our service at Bittiraha is a simple form-based system with no accounts and no wallets, and some users definitely prefer that," he explained. "But investor type users want accounts, wallets, ability to store EUR and BTC with us and high security (vault service), and we can offer all of that with Coinmotion.”

Image via Shutterstock