Bitkub Capital Group Holdings, the company that owns Thailand's biggest cryptocurrency exchange, is bringing on financial consultants to assist with its upcoming initial public offering (IPO) listing on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) in 2025. The CEO, Jirayut Srupsrisopa, announced this decision in an interview with Bloomberg on April 1. The primary objective of the IPO listing is to generate new capital and enhance Bitkub's reputation.

Despite decreasing its headcount by 6% in 2022 and 2023, Bitkub is now drastically increasing its workforce by planning to hire 1,000 new employees by 2025, essentially doubling its current workforce of 2,000. The company initially revealed its intentions to launch an IPO in Thailand in a shareholder letter from 2023, although specific details had not been provided at that time.

As of December 2023, HashKey reported that Bitkub, headquartered in Bangkok, has the largest share of the market in Thailand, accounting for 77% of the market. The exchange manages around $30 million in daily trading volumes. Other prominent Thai cryptocurrency exchanges include Upbit, Bitazza, and Zipmex. However, Zipmex temporarily halted trading activities in Thailand in November 2023 due to regulatory pressure.

Having over 13 million crypto users in 2023, which represents approximately 18% of the total population, Thailand has become a significant player in the crypto industry in recent years. The number of users is expected to reach 17.7 million by 2028, according to Statista data.

With significant competition emerging in Thailand's cryptocurrency market, Bitkub faces challenges from international rivals like Binance, which launched its local subsidiary in January 2024. Additionally, Kasikornbank, one of the country's largest banks, acquired a majority stake in the Satang crypto exchange in October 2023.

Recently, Bitkub sold a 9.2% stake in its crypto exchange unit, Bitkub Online, to Asphere Innovations in July 2023 for 600 million baht ($16.5 million). Bitkub anticipates that the value of Bitkub Online will increase as trading volumes approach levels seen during the previous crypto bull market in 2021.

SCB X, a financial institution that owns Thailand's largest bank by market value, decided to cancel its plan to purchase a 51% stake in Bitkub Online for 17.85 billion baht in 2022 due to heightened regulatory scrutiny.