Thailand’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Biktub hires advisers for 2025 IPO

Jirayut Srupsrisopa, CEO of Bitkub Capital Group Holdings, the owner of Thailand’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, said in an interview on Monday that the company plans an initial public offering in 2025.

Jirayut said Bitkub plans to list on the Stock Exchange of Thailand to boost the company’s profile and raise funds. Bitkub is hiring financial advisors for the listing, he added.

Bitkub had earlier stated in a shareholder letter that it planned to conduct an IPO in Thailand in 2023, but did not specify a target time frame.

Competition among cryptocurrency traders in Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy is heating up, with Binance and Kasikornbank both moving to capture market share from Bitkub in the past six months. The number of active cryptocurrency trading accounts in Thailand jumped to 238,000 in March, the highest level since September 2022, according to data tracked by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

In July last year, Bitkub sold a 9.2% stake in its cryptocurrency trading arm Bitkub Online to Asphere Innovations Pcl for 600 million baht ($16.5 million, approximately Rs. 137 crore). Jirayut said he expects Bitkub Online’s valuation, which was valued at about 6 billion baht in the transaction, to rise as the platform’s trading volume approaches its highest level since the last cryptocurrency bull run in 2021.

Bitkub Online accounts for approximately 80% of Bitkub Capital’s revenue.

Bitkub is expanding after cutting about 6% of its staff in 2022 and 2023 as Bitcoin rallies to new all-time highs amid renewed optimism. Jiraut said his goal is to increase the number of employees to 3,000 by 2025 from the current 2,000.

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