Biktub, Thailand’s Largest Crypto Exchange, Hires Advisors for 2025 IPO

Bitkob Capital Group Holdings, owner of Thailand’s largest conglomerate Crypto exchangeis planning an initial public offering for 2025, Chief Executive Officer Jiravat Sarvaparisuppa said in an interview on Monday.

Jirayut said Bitkub plans to go public on Thailand’s stock exchange in an effort to raise the company’s profile and raise money. Bitkub is in the process of hiring financial advisors for the listing, he added.

Bitkub previously hinted at plans to pursue an IPO in Thailand in a 2023 shareholder letter, without specifying a target timeframe.

Competition for Crypto Traders in Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy are heating up, with Binance and Kasikornbank Pcl both making moves to grab market share from Bitkub in the past six months. The number of active crypto trading accounts in Thailand reached 238,000 in March, the highest level since September 2022, according to data tracked by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In July last year, Bitkub sold a 9.2 percent stake in Bitkub Online, its crypto exchange unit, to Asphere Innovations Pcl for THB 600 million ($16.5 million or about Rs 137 crore). Jerawat said he expects Bitkub Online’s value to rise to around 6 billion baht in the deal, as trading volume on the platform will be close to levels not seen since the last crypto bull market in 2021.

Bitkub Online accounts for about 80 percent of Bitkub Capital’s revenue.

As bitcoin’s rally to record highs renews hope, Bitkub is expanding after a nearly 6 percent decline in its numbers in 2022 and 2023. Jerawat said he wants to increase the size of the workforce from 2,000 to 3,000 people by 2025.

SCB X Pcl, a financial conglomerate that controls the country’s largest bank by market value, has scrapped plans to acquire a 51 percent stake in Bitkub Online for THB 17.85 billion (about Rs 4,083 crore) in 2022. Increased regulatory scrutiny.

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