The stablecoin narrative is not over yet, and cryptocurrency exchanges have become the focus of the market again. Recently, large exchanges including OKX, Gemini and Bullish have all announced plans to go public in the United States, showing their ambitions for the compliant market. Whether it is a split or SPAC listing, this wave of IPOs will not only be the next hype target, but also a key link in the crypto industry's pursuit of mainstream recognition.
Table of Contents
ToggleOKX quietly prepares for IPO: "Split listing" becomes key strategy
ABMedia reported yesterday that OKX returned to the US market in April this year and recently announced plans to list on the US stock market. Market observer AB Kuai.Dong said that its listing entity may be completely separated from the main site (international version) to avoid the regulatory risks of the platform currency OKB and the parent company.
He revealed that as early as 2021, OKX had established equity investment, asset management and wallet departments in North America. Although these departments were partially merged into the Hong Kong or Asia-Pacific teams due to the bear market, they are still expected to return as OKX restarts its US business:
The timing of the IPO in the United States may be a window for loosening regulations, by which time the U.S. entity and the international version should be completely separated.
However, he also worries that if OKX's structure is not handled clearly or progress is delayed, it may repeat the mistakes of the Hong Kong stock backdoor listing in 2019. That year, the group went public through the shell of "Qianjin Holdings Group (now renamed OKLink) (1499.HK)", but the final stock price still performed flat, which also reflects the risk that the follow-up strategy is difficult to sustain.
Listing replaces issuing platform coins. Has the logic of exchange fundraising changed?
In the past cryptocurrency market, exchanges’ fundraising channels were almost inseparable from platform coins. However, due to the former SEC Chairman Gary Gensler’s consistently tough regulatory stance on coin issuance, the statement “cryptocurrency = unregistered securities” has always been an obstacle that cryptocurrency practitioners cannot circumvent.
Now, seeing the regulatory relaxation brought about by the inauguration of Trump and Paul Atkins , as well as the impressive IPO performance of stablecoin issuer Circle , listing US stocks seems to have become a new financing tool and narrative axis for exchanges.
Of course, this has also caused dissatisfaction among some crypto-native communities. As early adopters of USDC deeply rooted in the DeFi ecosystem, they did not share any results after Circle went public, and they said that this completely deviated from the value of the crypto world.
A review of exchanges that may be listed and ready to go
AB Kuai.Dong also took stock of several current exchanges that are more competitive and have potential listing prospects. The first is Bullish , which is supported by billionaire Peter Thiel and EOS developer Block.one. It has launched its listing plan again after a four-year hiatus, hoping to make up for the regret of attempting to go public through SPAC in 2021 but failed .
In addition, Backpack is a relatively young exchange. Although it has not yet issued a token, it has an active community and a large number of innovative products . It is rumored that Backpack will first go public in the United States and then launch a tokenized equity model, using "stock tokens" as an alternative to platform assets.
Finally, established exchanges such as Gemini have officially submitted S-1 listing applications to the SEC, while Kraken is reportedly planning to go public as early as the first quarter of 2026. These platforms that have been deeply rooted in the United States have chosen to bypass the risks of token issuance and directly enter the traditional capital market, indicating that the crypto industry is transitioning to a more mature and compliant financing model.
The IPO strategy not only avoids regulatory risks, but also provides exchanges with a new option of "raising funds without issuing coins". The large pool of traditional finance is also more likely to attract institutional and retail funds interested in participating in encryption.
CRCL’s market value is approaching COIN: Will the next wave of hot spots turn to exchanges?
When stablecoins, as crypto infrastructure, successfully ignited an investment boom among U.S. institutions and retail investors, and as CRCL has soared nearly five times in the nearly three weeks since its listing, its market value once approached Coinbase (COIN). The market will then look for the next wave of narrative main line.
At this time, the reminder of exchange IPO undoubtedly provides new emotional support and capital expectations. For retail investors, it is an opportunity to participate in the core encryption enterprises; for institutions, it is a bridge to layout the compliance market.
Which platforms, such as OKX, Gemini, Kraken, Bullish and Backpack, can break through the siege first and replicate the success of Coinbase has also become the focus of attention.
Risk Warning
Cryptocurrency investment carries a high degree of risk. Its price may fluctuate drastically and you may lose all your capital. Please assess the risk carefully.
On June 20, the well-known exchange Coinbase announced that it had obtained an operating license certified by the EU's "Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA)" and selected the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg as its European headquarters.
Table of Contents
ToggleCoinbase announces MiCA license and European headquarters in Luxembourg
Coinbase announced that it has officially passed the review of the Luxembourg Securities and Financial Supervisory Commission (Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier), and was issued a MiCA license, and will use Luxembourg as its European headquarters.
In response, Coinbase stated that the reason for choosing Luxembourg as its European headquarters is that the country has long been regarded as the most forward-looking financial center in Western Europe, and has gradually introduced a number of blockchain-related policies since 2019. It has currently passed four blockchain-related bills.
MiCA implements European crypto regulatory standards, OKX and Bybit also take their place
The EU officially passed MiCA in May 2023 and it came into full effect in December 2024. The bill mainly hopes to unify the regulatory standards of EU countries for the crypto industry, protect the rights and interests of investors, and maintain financial stability.
As MiCA implemented the European crypto industry regulatory standards, many industry players also took their place:
OKX, Crypto.com : Obtained MiCA license in January 2025.
Bybit : Obtained MiCA license in May 2025.
Gemini : According to Reuters , the application is underway.
Coinbase acquires Deribit and adds it to the S&P 500
In addition to the MiCA license, Coinbase has also had several outstanding performances recently. Not only did it announce the acquisition of options trading platform Deribit for US$2.9 billion in May this year, it was also officially included in the S&P 500 Index (S&P 500) on May 19, becoming the first crypto company to enter the index.
Commercial payments push crypto mainstream in Europe
According to research, about 10%-20% of European investors are currently exposed to the crypto industry, among which "commercial payments" are gradually driving the main reason for the popularization of cryptocurrencies, not just for investment to make a profit from price differences.
Data shows that more than 70% of crypto payments are being used in daily consumption areas such as retail and catering, and the usage rate of DeFi in Eastern Europe is also gradually increasing.
Risk Warning
Cryptocurrency investment carries a high degree of risk. Its price may fluctuate drastically and you may lose all your capital. Please assess the risk carefully.
Former senior executives of Web3 venture fund Coral Capital Holdings are reportedly preparing to raise $100 million to replicate the MicroStrategy Bitcoin reserve model and create a BNB reserve listed company.
Table of Contents
ToggleThree hedge fund executives leave Coral Capital for new ventures
According to Bloomberg , three former Coral Capital executives are in talks to raise $100 million and buy BNB, the platform currency of the well-known exchange Binance, through a listed company under their name that has not yet been disclosed. According to CoinGecko , the current market value of BNB has reached $93.6 billion.
After completing the fundraising, they plan to change the company name to "Build & Build Corporation" and directly include BNB in the balance sheet as a core reserve asset. It is understood that the three will complete the fundraising by the end of June and start acquiring BNB.
Not only BTC, but also ETH, SOL and TRX are included in the corporate reserve strategy
Initially, corporate reserve strategies were mainly Bitcoin reserves, led by MicroStrategy, but recently many companies have turned to other cryptocurrencies:
SharpLink, an American online gaming company, spent a total of US$460 million to enter the Ethereum (ETH) strategic reserve.
Upexi: The total amount of reserve SOL has reached 100 million US dollars .
Janover (now DeFi Dev Corp.): The total amount of SOL reserves reached 97 million US dollars .
- Entertainment company SRM: Tron founder Justin Sun directly invested $100 million in TRX in SRM and used TRX as a corporate reserve.
Crypto stocks have become a new battlefield for cryptocurrency speculators, with the average highest increase reaching 438%
With the listing of Circle, the issuer of stablecoin USDC, in the US, and MicroStrategy pioneering the corporate currency reserve, many companies have followed suit, using cryptocurrencies as their main reserves and listing. Moreover, most "crypto stocks" have increased by several times in the early stage, which is more impressive than the increase in cryptocurrencies.
According to a report on June 17, the average maximum increase in the share prices of 30 US-listed crypto companies reached approximately 438%.
In comparison, the total market value of cryptocurrencies has only increased by 51% this year. This shows that the growth potential of "crypto stocks" is very strong.
Risk Warning
Cryptocurrency investment carries a high degree of risk. Its price may fluctuate drastically and you may lose all your capital. Please assess the risk carefully.
