The competition among cryptocurrency exchanges is on the rise with new products and digital assets being added every week. As the exchanges thrive to bank on the increased understanding of crypto among people, Blockchain.com has decided to go the IPO route.
Per reports, one of the largest crypto exchanges, Blockchain.com is currently in the process of interviewing banks for an initial public offering that could take place this year. However, people familiar with the matter also stated that the plans could change and the IPO might not happen till 2023.
It should be noted that last year in August the Chief Financial Officer at Blockchain.com, Marcina Kgil, had revealed the company’s plans for an IPO. He had also offered a similar timeline.
While we await clarity from the exchange’s end, if it does go public, it would only be the second crypto exchange in the U.S. to do so. Its competitor, Coinbase was the first centralized crypto exchange to go public in 2021 with a valuation of nearly $100 billion.
Although the current valuation of Blockchain.com stood at about $14 billion after a Series D round last month. The Series D round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with “major participation” from Baillie Gifford. Following this feat, the exchange also launched an asset-management service called BCAM, which will cater to institutional investors, family offices, and high-net-worth individuals.
Per reports,
“BCAM launches with a strategy that tracks the price of Bitcoin versus the dollar. Another strategy it is rolling out focuses on reducing the volatility that comes with investing in Bitcoin by offering “algorithm-based risk-managed exposure” to the currency.”
As per its chief strategy officer, Charlie McGarraugh, Blockchain.com was also readying a product that manages exposure to decentralized-finance coins. As the crypto exchange doubles down on its efforts to cater to rising institutional interest, its valuation could shoot up by the time of its IPO.
As the CSO had stated earlier,
“Like everything in crypto you won’t know until you try. But like with everything in crypto, we think we are growing into the clear blue sky. It’s a big opportunity.”
Blockchain.com currently has over 37 million verified users with 82 million wallets created and more than $1 trillion transacted. With 11 years of experience under its belt, it would be interesting to see the fate of its IPO.