The number of publicly-traded crypto companies is set to increase soon. Although, so far, only Coinbase is a public crypto company, several other companies have voiced intentions to follow in Coinbase’s footsteps soon. This article looks at what the next publicly traded crypto companies could be.
Apifiny
Apifiny is a New York-based crypto exchange that considers itself an “exchange of exchanges.” Its platform helps users to connect different crypto trading markets and, in doing so, find the best prices and solve liquidity problems. Apifiny aims to go public by the end of 2021 and has hired Erez Simha, former Mercurity Fintech Holdings CFO, and Jason Jiang, a BlackRock and Goldman Sachs alumni, to help them do so.
FTX
FTX is a trading platform founded by Sam Bankman-Fried in 2019. It has shown meteoric growth over the past two years due to its advanced trader focus and involvement in coins such as Solana, Raydium and the FTX token. They have recently raised $900 million in a series B round of funding giving the exchange a valuation of approximately $18 billion. While Sam Bankman-Fried suggested that FTX are not immediately planning to IPO, he did suggest that listing was on his mind, claiming that they want to be in a position where they “could go public quickly if they wanted to.” He elaborated that he will pursue an IPO when the time is right.
Blockchain.com
Blockchain.com is a hybrid of an exchange, wallet, and blockchain explorer. Founded in 2011, it has become a go-to place for users to follow their bitcoin transactions. Since its founding, the company has raised approximately $500 million in funding, and has a valuation of around $5.2 billion. According to co-founder and CEO, Peter Smith, the company has been watching Coinbase’s IPO closely as it gives insight into how the public markets would receive a crypto company. The CEO was later remarked as saying that although they are not rushing to IPO, they are “carefully considering [their] public market options.”
Ripple
Ripple is a crypto payment platform whose solution rivals credit card companies by providing faster transaction times at a lower cost. The company is still awaiting resolution of its legal battle with the SEC. Ripple is accused of having conducted an ongoing and unregistered securities sale via its XRP token. The company is hopeful it can resolve its legal case soon and continue with its plan to go public, which was announced in early 2020.
BlockFi
BlockFi is a crypto lending platform that aims to go public in the second half of 2021. The company closed a $30 million Series B funding round and aims to create a full-scale consumer bank for crypto with services ranging from trading to lending to high-yield savings. To do that, CEO Zac Prince is looking for a CFO to accelerate the company’s IPO plans.
Bakkt
Bakkt, a Bitcoin exchange, merged with a special purpose acquisition company to become another publicly traded crypto company. It plans to list on the NYSE, and the deal valued Bakkt at $2.1 billion.
Conclusion
There is certainly no shortage of publicly traded crypto companies that want to repeat the PR success of Coinbase. With cryptocurrencies growing in importance, we will likely see more public crypto companies in the near future.