One of many oldest cryptocurrency exchanges in Scandinavia desires to go public later this 12 months, hoping it is going to allow conventional buye
One of many oldest cryptocurrency exchanges in Scandinavia desires to go public later this 12 months, hoping it is going to allow conventional buyers to take part in “new finance.”
Oskar Soderstrom, CEO of Stockholm-based BTCX, confirmed to CoinDesk that they want to ship an preliminary public providing (IPO) earlier than the top of Q3 2020. Company monetary advisory agency Eminova Companions has been engaged to assist file the providing, anticipated to happen in Sweden.
“Our goal is to deliver bitcoin to the lots and to bridge the hole between new and conventional finance,” Soderstrom wrote in an e mail. “Being in new finance, a list of the corporate by way of a standard route appears like a pure development to realize that objective.”
Established in 2013, BTCX helps buying and selling in bitcoin and ethereum, with the Swedish krona and the euro as fiat funding choices. It additionally options an ‘specific’ change facility, enabling transfers between digital and fiat currencies that full in a matter of minutes. Customers have to finish KYC/AML checks earlier than they’ll use the agency’s providers.
Following the collapse of the ICO market in 2018, cryptocurrency firms have more and more turned to extra conventional means to lift funds. IPOs, that are closely regulated and customarily accessible to most types of buyers, enable firms to broaden their attraction and improve their fame amongst extra skeptical parts of the monetary world.
“Selecting a standard route may add extra transparency to an trade historically shaded within the eyes of the general public,” Soderstrom stated. With blockchain-based options nonetheless in a section of “immaturity,” he added, a public providing would additionally fulfill any considerations raised by Sweden’s chief monetary regulator, the Finansinspektionen (FI).
There are some disadvantages to taking the IPO route, nevertheless. Traders can nonetheless lose cash, as when the share worth for cryptocurrency mining rig maker Canaan dropped 40 % weeks after an IPO raised $90 million. Equally, Chinese language mining big Bitmain needed to step back from plans for an IPO in Hong Kong after income dropped precipitously within the latter a part of 2018.
Regardless of this, Soderstrom is assured that if managed appropriately the BTCX IPO can be successful. “We imagine the normal monetary markets can be very thinking about Sweden’s older crypto dealer being listed,” he stated.
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