Austrian crypto exchange Bitpanda has rejected the idea of an IPO in the UK, citing a lack of liquidity in the country’s capital markets.
Founded in 2014 by Eric Demuth, Paul Klanschek and Christian Trummer, Bitpanda is one of Europe’s largest crypto exchanges and is keenly considering a listing, according to an interview with CEO Demuth in the Financial Times on Tuesday.
“Currently, everybody’s moving away from the [London Stock Exchange],” Demuth said, citing remittance fintech Wise’s decision to switch its primary listing from London to New York.
The Bitpanda CEO says while no decision has been made yet, the Austrian company is likely to list in either Frankfurt or New York. The company’s backers include Silicon Valley stalwart Peter Thiel and VC firm Hedosophia.
Demuth’s comments follow a recent spate of successful crypto IPOs in the US. Earlier this month, crypto exchange Bullish IPO’d on the New York Stock Exchange with its share price jumping 84% from $37 to $68 at market close. US crypto payments company Circle also more than tripled its share price on its opening trading day in June.
“I hope that it gets better but over the next few years, I think the LSE is struggling a bit,” Demuth says.
Sifted approached Bitpanda for comment.
Read the orginal article: https://sifted.eu/articles/bitpanda-london-ipo/
