Binance Reportedly Wants to Acquire Tokocrypto, TKO Soars

One of the world’s largest crypto asset companies, Binance, is reportedly exploring the acquisition of Tokocrypto, a crypto trading company from Indonesia.

Talks of Binance’s acquisition of Tokocrypto were reported by Tech in Asia, based on information from a source familiar with the discussions. According to Tech in Asia, Tokocrypto CEO Pang Xue Kai will leave his position at the company after the acquisition process is complete.

Apart from that, a Tech in Asia source also stated that there would be potential layoffs (PHK) after Tokocrypto was annexed by Binance.

Tokocrypto VP Corporate Communications, Rieka Handayani said that Tokocrypto could not comment on rumors and speculations circulating.

“Currently Binance is one of Tokocrypto’s investors who have joined since 2020 to jointly develop the company and help build the crypto asset industry in Indonesia,” he said in a statement to CNBC Indonesia, Wednesday (7/12/2022).

Rieka continued that Tokocrypto’s current focus is building a sustainable business and continuing to encourage healthy business and industry growth by prioritizing customer education and protection.

On Tuesday (6/12/2022), at around 19.15, the Toko Token (TKO) exchange rate had jumped from US$0.29 to a high of US$0.57. This morning, TKO traded at US$0.4.

Previously, Tokocrypto had implemented a layoff policy for 20% of its employees or 227 employees with consideration of a change in business focus.

Apart from laying off employees, Tokocrypto will also strengthen its main business as an exchange platform and separate T-Hub and TokoMall into separate entities. They will also transfer some employees to the business.

T-Hub is a blockchain community platform that manages several locations in Indonesia, including Bali. Meanwhile, TokoMall is a platform for minting and buying and selling non-fungible tokens (NFT).