Amidst the chaos in the crypto market, Binance was seen advancing. Just yesterday, the exchange went from partially investing in an Indonesian crypto platform to entirely acquiring it. However, this acquisition came with certain cons for the ones operating in the Indonesian exchange Tokocrypto.
Earlier today it was brought to light that 58 percent of Tokocrypto’s staff will be sacked. This will reportedly be done in order to “cut costs and halt diversification into non-exchange businesses.” In a recent statement, the Indonesian crypto firm said,
“Tokocrypto made the choice to streamline operations and focus on improving the functioning of the crypto asset trading platform in response to altering crypto market conditions.”
Back in September, Tokocrypto laid off 20 percent of its staff about 45 individuals.
In addition to this, with Binance’s takeover, Pang Xue Kai was stepping down as Tokocrypto’s CEO. Kai’s position will be fulfilled by Yudhono Rawis who would act as the interim CEO until the acquisition process comes through.
It should be noted that Tokocrypto is the very first exchange in Indonesia to be registered with the Trade and Futures Exchange Ministry [BAPPEBTI].
Binance doubles down on its initial investment
As mentioned earlier, back in 2020 Binance had a mere control of about 51 percent. This was when the firm first poured money into the Indonesian exchange. However now, Changpeng Zhao’s platform owns 100 percent of Tokocrypto.
CZ also affirmed that this move was a mere increase in shareholding. The Binance CEO also pointed out how Indonesia’s crypto exchange volumes had taken a hit following the tax introduction. Earlier this year, the country imposed a 0.1 percent tax on crypto transactions.
Additionally, this acquisition paved the way for Tokocrypto’s native asset TKO to thrive. The asset jumped from a low of $0.284 to a high of $0.4097. At press time, however, the asset experienced correction and was trading for $0.3021. Nevertheless, the daily trading volume of the token had surged by 534.73 percent.