Peter Smith, Blockchain.com’s CEO and co-founder, said in an interview that they are carefully considering a public market option.
Crypto exchange and block explorer Blockchain.com has been reported to be on course to announce its Initial Public Offering (IPO) sooner or later this year. A Bloomberg report disclosed that a source close to the situation claims the company is in talks with some American Banks to launch the IPO. However, this plan is subject to change as the conversation is in the preliminary stage.
In August last year, Macrina Kgil, chief financial officer at Blockchain.com hinted that the company could launch an IPO in 2022 or 2023. Peter Smith, Blockchain.com’s CEO and co-founder, also said in an interview that it is carefully considering its public market option, and is not in a rush.
Blockchain.com announced its presence in the crypto industry with the first Bitcoin block explorer in 2011, then later launched its crypto wallet application. It currently has over 82 million wallets, 37 million verified users, and over $1 trillion in transactions.
It recently conducted a funding round led by global venture capital firm Lightspeed Ventures and Baillie Gifford & Co, sending its valuation from $5.2 billion to $14 billion. In April last year, Blockchain.com obtained $100 million from Baillie Gifford & Co. This put it in the spotlight as it became the single largest investment made in the company.
Coinbase IPO Influenced Blockchain.com and Others
Coinbase Global Inc (NASDAQ: COIN) was the first-ever crypto exchange to go public after it announced an opening share price of $381 in 2021 with a valuation of nearly $100 billion. The race for the second crypto exchange to go public is on as Binance.US has also expressed its interest in announcing its IPO. This is only after it can declare or demonstrate independence from its global company. “Binance.US is just going to do what Coinbase did,” said Changpeng Zhao, Binance CEO.
Binance was under a lot of pressure from regulatory bodies last year, but according to Zhao, the exchange would surely go public by 2024. He further assured that the exchange would overcome its setbacks to comply with the laws. The groundbreaking development by Coinbase last year has opened doors for other crypto exchanges like Kraken, Gemini, and others to consider going public. Jesse Powell, Kraken’s chief executive, and co-founder, in a statement, disclosed that the exchange is planning on going public in 2022.
According to Santosh Rao, head of research at Manhattan Venture Partners, the engagement of crypto firms will largely depend on the Bitcoin price as well as the regulatory framework.
“I think you will see a lot more activity in the crypto space in terms of companies going public, use cases, regulators warming up to it,” he said. “it all depends on Bitcoin, how Bitcoin is doing, and how the regulatory landscape is shaping up,” he added.
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