2022-10-31

Coincheck, a Tokyo-based cryptocurrency exchange, revealed on Tuesday that it has agreed to merge with special purpose acquisition firm Thunder Bridge Capital Partners in a $1.25 billion transaction to go public in the United States.

According to a release, Coincheck, a subsidiary of Monex Group, a Japanese online brokerage business, is slated to float on the Nasdaq Global Select Market in the second half of 2022. If there are no shareholder redemptions and before expenditures, the merged business will receive $237 million in cash held in Thunder Bridge Capital Partners’ trust. The deal would help Coincheck to grow its operations in Japan and beyond, according to the crypto marketplace. The merger will also allow the company to expand its product offerings while continuing to invest in security and infrastructure.

Coincheck, which was founded in 2012, bills itself as one of the largest multi-cryptocurrency marketplaces and digital asset exchanges in Japan. According to the firm, it serves 1.5 million verified consumers, or 28% of Japan’s 5.5 million bitcoin owners. According to tracker CoinGecko, the exchange conducted nearly $100 million in spot digital currency deals in the previous 24 hours as of Wednesday. When Coincheck disclosed in early 2018 that over $500 million worth of digital currency had been taken from its platform, it became one of the greatest crypto thefts in history. Later that year, Monex Group bought Coincheck for $34 million, announcing intentions for an initial public offering for the crypto platform at the time.

According to the announcement, Monex would possess around 82 percent of the merged business following the merger, down from its present ownership of 94.2 percent. Existing Coincheck stockholders will be entitled to obtain up to 50 million shares dependent on the stock’s future performance. Coincheck’s SPAC arrangement comes as Japan attempts to stay up with the global crypto business by speeding up the long screening procedure for cryptocurrency listings on the country’s trading platforms. According to Nikkei Asia, the Japan Virtual and Crypto Assets Exchange Association, which represents 31 exchanges, announced on Tuesday that it intends to eliminate at least 18 crypto tokens from the certification process. Popular digital assets such as bitcoin, ether, XRP, and litecoin are among the options, according to the study.