Thailand’s Largest Crypto Exchange Bitkub Sets Sights on 2025 IPO in Home Country

Bitkub Capital Group Holdings, the parent company of Bitkub, Thailand’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, has revealed plans to conduct an initial public offering (IPO) in 2025.The company aims to go public on the Stock Exchange of Thailand, CEO Jirayut Srupsrisopa said in a recent interview with Bloomberg. Bitkub is currently in the process of hiring financial advisers to assist with the IPO listing.The announcement follows a previous indication from Bitkub in a shareholder letter from 2023, where the company expressed its intention to pursue an IPO in Thailand, albeit without specifying a specific timeframe.

Binance and Kasikornbank Compete for Capturing Thai Market

The crypto trading landscape in Thailand has become increasingly competitive, with rivals such as Binance and Kasikornbank Pcl making moves to capture market share from Bitkub over the past six months. The number of active crypto trading accounts in Thailand reached 238,000 in March, the highest level since September 2022, as reported by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Thailand crypto community is so blasting 🔥 @degenclancommu @CryptomindLabs pic.twitter.com/MBbcEPpuUM

— Shimal2i🧡🇹🇭🐻 🚀MATR1XCoin (@Shimal2i_eth) March 30, 2024

Bitkub sold a 9.2% stake in its crypto exchange unit, Bitkub Online Co., to Asphere Innovations Pcl for 600 million baht ($16.5 million) in July of last year. 

Jirayut expects the valuation of Bitkub Online, which was approximately 6 billion baht during the deal, to rise as trading volumes on the platform approach levels not seen since the previous crypto bull market in 2021. 

Bitkub Online contributes approximately 80% of Bitkub Capital’s earnings.

As Bitcoin’s recent rally to record highs fuels renewed optimism, Bitkub is expanding its operations after reducing its workforce by about 6% between 2022 and 2023. 

Jirayut aims to increase the company’s headcount to 3,000 employees by 2025, up from the current 2,000.

It is worth noting that SCB X Pcl, a financial company that controls Thailand’s largest bank by market value, decided in 2022 to abandon a 17.85 billion baht plan to acquire a 51% stake in Bitkub Online due to heightened regulatory scrutiny.

Thai SEC Eases Crypto Investing Restrictions

The SEC of Thailand has updated the criteria for investing in digital tokens, easing some restrictions.In a recent meeting, the SEC Committee approved the principles for improving investment criteria and related criteria for digital asset business operations, aiming to establish effective investor protection mechanisms while considering the risks associated with digital assets.For one, the commission has lifted investment restrictions previously imposed on retail investors for digital tokens backed by real estate or generating real estate income streams (real estate-backed ICOs) and digital tokens with infrastructure operations or revenue streams (infra-backed ICOs).Previously, retail investors were limited to investing a maximum of 300,000 baht per offering.In early February, the country’s Finance Ministry also announced the exemption of value-added tax (VAT) on digital asset trading in a move to position Thailand as a leading digital asset hub.By easing tax rules, the ministry suspended the requirement to pay 7% VAT on income derived from cryptocurrency and digital token trading.