Morgan Stanley, one of the largest banks in the US, has plans to buy a stake in the South Korean crypto trading platform Bithumb, Naver News reports.
According to the news media, gaming giant Nexon Group was in talks to acquire a stake in the platform operator. However, these were interrupted. The company had denied in the past that it intended to buy the exchange.
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According to Naver, the bank plans to invest between 300 billion and 500 billion won ($265-440 million).
Bithumb is expected to reach a market valuation of 2 trillion won (about $1.77B) following the bank's investment.
Following the stake purchase, Morgan Stanley plans to make additional investments in Bithumb.
It has previously been reported Morgan Stanley could become the first major US bank to offer its wealthy clients access to Bitcoin-based funds. Only wealthy Morgan Stanley clients who have transferred at least $2M to the service will be able to access it.