Bitkub Capital Preps for 2025 IPO, Set to Double Workforce Amid Crypto Boom in Thailand
Summary:
Bitkub Capital Group Holdings, Thailand's largest cryptocurrency exchange, is preparing for an initial public offering (IPO) on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) in 2025. The company is hiring financial advisers and planning to expand its workforce despite previous staff reductions. Bitkub holds 77% of the Thai crypto market share as of 2023 and faces competition from major crypto players, including Binance. The company anticipates an increase in valuation as trading volumes rise, and the platform contributes to around 80% of the group's earnings.
Thailand's leading cryptocurrency exchange, Bitkub Capital Group Holdings, is engaging financial consultants to assist in its forthcoming initial public offering (IPO). According to CEO Jirayut Srupsrisopa, who spoke to Bloomberg on April 1, Bitkub has its sights set on a 2025 public listing on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET). The prospective listing is intended to attract new investment and enhance Bitkub's visibility in the market.
Despite reducing its workforce by 6% in the years 2022 and 2023, Bitkub is currently in the process of staff augmentation. The aim is to bolster the workforce by 1,000 additional employees by 2025, from the existing squad of 2,000.
Bitkub's IPO ambition on Thai soil was first made public in a 2023 shareholder letter, though specific details were withheld. Bitkub, headquartered in Bangkok, holds the title of the largest crypto exchange in the country, with a whopping 77% market share as of December 2023 as per HashKey data. This translates to about $30 million in daily trades.
Other key players in the Thai crypto exchange arena are Upbit, Bitazza, and Zipmex. However, a regulatory intervention caused Zipmex to suspend trading in November 2023.
Recent years have witnessed Thailand make significant strides in the crypto realm. As per Statista data, roughly 18% of Thailand's people, equating to over 13 million, were crypto users in 2023. This user base is expected to swell to 17.7 million by 2028.
Owing to this rapid adoption rate, cryptocurrency outfits have been striving to carve out a larger slice of the market held by Bitkub in Thailand. For instance, Binance, an international rival, launched a local subsidiary in January 2024, with plans for public inauguration the same year. Thailand's Kasikornbank, among the country's largest banks, acquired controlling interest in the Satang crypto exchange in October 2023.
The revised information about Bitkub's intended IPO follows the crypto exchange's sale of a 9.2% equity interest in its Bitkub Online platform to Asphere Innovations tech holding firm a few months earlier, in July 2023. Then, the stake was valued at 600 million baht, or $16.5 million.
Jirayut predicts that Bitkub Online will see a surge in its valuation as the trading volume on the platform ramps up to levels last seen during the 2021 crypto bull market. Earnings from the Bitkub Online platform make up nearly 80% of Bitkub Capital's total revenue.
However, a potential deal, wherein SCB X, a financial corporation, was to buy a 51% stake in Bitkub Online for 17.85 billion baht, fell through in 2022 due to heightened regulatory oversight.
Published At
4/1/2024 2:11:28 PM
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