Taylor Wessing completes sale of cryptocurrency exchange Bitstamp

International law firm Taylor Wessing has completed the 80% sale of Bitstamp to Brussels-based investment firm, NXMH.

Founded in the UK in 2011, Bitstamp is the world's longest standing cryptocurrency exchange and the EU's largest by volume, with more than three million registered customers.

Following the deal, Bitstamp customers can expect improvements in user experience, customer service, trading functions and other operations. The company will continue to provide a robust, safe and secure trading environment.

With regulatory approval required for the sale to go through, and the international considerations with Bitstamp operating in the UK, Slovenia, Luxembourg and the United States, the sale was exceptional in a market where these kind of deals are already extremely rare.

Bitstamp co-founder and CEO, Nejc Kodrič, will retain a minority ownership interest in Bitstamp and continue as CEO. Pantera Capital Management LP, who owned a portion of Bitstamp after making a $10 million investment in the company in 2014, will also retain a 6% stake in Bitstamp.

Commenting on the deal,

Howard Palmer, partner in the Corporate Technology team, said: "Working in this space requires a great deal of passion, flexibility, and commercial expertise – as well as legal knowledge. We've been working with Bitstamp since advising Pantera on its investment into the company in early 2014 and it's really rewarding to see their success and be a part of this deal."

Bitstamp co-founder and CEO Nejc Kodrič

added: "We’re very grateful for all the hard work that Taylor Wessing has put into this sale. They’ve been a valuable partner for Bitstamp since 2014, and Howard and his team have been providing expert counsel for us from our startup phase through this exit to NXMH and beyond."

Dan Morehead, CEO of Pantera Venture Fund, LP added: "Taylor Wessing acted for Pantera on its original investment into Bitstamp in early 2014, following which we recommended that Taylor Wessing acted for Bitstamp moving forward. We are grateful to Howard and the Taylor Wessing team for all their help in guiding the management team through this successful exit process and sale to NXMH."

The team was led by partner Howard Palmer, senior associate Alexandra Richardson and associate Alex Dodds, with support from Victor Chang, Sarah Wallis, Harry Ruffell. Tax partner Graham Samuel-Gibbon and senior associate Harriet Revington also advised.