Nasdaq Raises Offer for Crypto-Orientated Financial Services Provider Cinnober to $220M

Published on January 9, 2019 by Cryptovest Staff

The US stock exchange aims to acquire Sweden’s firm Cinnober through its Stockholm-based subsidiary Nasdaq Technology.

Nasdaq also decided to waive conditions regarding regulatory, governmental or similar clearances as initially the US company made the bid conditional on obtaining all regulatory approvals. Currently, the United Kingdom’s antitrust authorities are examining the offer, with a decision expected to be announced in February next year.

Cinnober, which was unprofitable in the first months of 2018, has begun to improve its market performance under the management of Peter Lenardos, who took the CEO position in August. In November, one of the largest European cryptocurrency exchanges, Bitstamp, decided to replace its matching engine with Cinnober’s technology.

“Nasdaq is acquiring a company that is in much better financial shape than it first thought, with good revenue momentum and a much lower cost base, in addition to no funding requirements,” Lenardos said as quoted by the FT.

Established in 1998, Cinnober is a global provider to brokers, exchanges, and clearinghouses. One of its main offerings is TRADExpress, which specializes in trading and post-trade services for cryptocurrency exchanges.