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Thailand's Bitkub is looking to go public in 2025 even with regulatory ghosts of the past and the fallout of Siam Bank's supposed shares buy. Bybit/flickr.com

KEY POINTS

  • Bitkub's Jirayut said previously signaled its intent to go public in a 2023 shareholders letter
  • The exchange accounts for around 80% of its parent company's profits
  • Competition is expanding in Thailand as Binance Thailand launched in January

Bitkub Capital Group Holdings, which owns Thailand's biggest cryptocurrency exchange Bitkub Online, is aiming for an initial public offering in 2025, its CEO Jirayut Srupsrisopa said Monday.

Jirayut told Bloomberg that the company was in the process of hiring financial advisers for its planned IPO next year. He added that the IPO is expected to put the exchange's value at around 6 billion baht (approximately $163.5 million).

The company has already signaled its intent to sell shares to the public in a 2023 shareholders letter, but the letter did not provide a specific timeframe, as per the report.

Bitkub's planned IPO by next year comes as the Thai public embraces cryptocurrencies. At this time, Bitkub is the country's largest crypto exchange, and it accounts for some 80% of its parent company's profits. However, competition is on the rise.

In November, Gulf Energy, a major energy firm in Thailand, announced a joint partnership with Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange by market capitalization, to launch a Thailand-based exchange.

"Gulf Binance's digital asset platform will provide digital asset exchange and digital asset broker services for both cryptocurrencies and digital tokens, prioritizing security and compliance," the energy giant said in a filing with the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET). At the time, the partners announced that the exchange will initially be open on an invitation-only basis, but will launch to the public early in 2024. Binance Thailand opened to the public in mid-January.

Bitkub's revelation of its IPO plans come following the crypto company's struggles in the past with Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as well as last year's financial slump.

The exchange was among five entities slapped with sanctions by the Thailand SEC in September 2022 for allegedly inflating crypto volume. Ahead of the sanctions, the regulator ordered Bitkub's chief technology officer Samret Wajanasathian to pay a fine of 8.5 million baht (approximately $231.7K) and was also prohibited from holding an executive position for a year over alleged insider trading.

In August of the same year, Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) pulled out of a plan to purchase a majority of the exchange, citing unresolved issues with the country's financial regulator.

Despite the ghosts of Bitkub's past, the crypto company has been moving forward with various projects. In December, Tether announced a joint initiative with Bitkub to launch a "comprehensive educational program targeting the enhancement of blockchain literacy and fostering awareness regarding stablecoins within Thailand."

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