FalconX Eyes 2025 IPO: Crypto Prime Brokerage Could Skyrocket in Public Debut
Crypto's institutional gateway prepares for Wall Street's spotlight.
FalconX—the $8B-valued digital asset prime broker—is quietly laying groundwork for a 2025 public offering, sources confirm. The move would test investor appetite for crypto infrastructure plays amid regulatory headwinds.
Behind the scenes: Execs reportedly courting bulge-bracket underwriters while expanding OTC and derivatives offerings. Because nothing says 'mainstream adoption' like replicating traditional finance's worst habits.
Market makers are circling. The firm's last private round hit a $8B valuation—now the question is whether public markets will swallow the same fairy tale as VCs did.
One thing's certain: When the suits start IPOing their crypto plumbing, you know we've reached peak 'financial innovation.'
Financial services provider for crypto
Founded in 2018, FalconX debuted as a crypto-focused prime brokerage, providing access to markets for clients to trade directly on exchanges. Since then, it has matured into a full-fledged trading firm and digital assets services provider.
FalconX aims to be “a financial services provider for the next generation of crypto,” FalconX co-head of markets Joshua Lim told Decrypt, declining to comment on whether FalconX has been exploring raising fresh funds.
The firm has three verticals—a markets business, a custody and staking business, and a prime brokerage direct-market-access business. It operates similarly to a principal trading business or a dealer, committing capital for its clients.
Over the past year, FalconX has ramped up its dealmaking to support its widening mandate across its business verticals. The deals position the firm to serve a wider range of clients at a time that investors’ interest in crypto is booming.
In early 2025, FalconX unveiled it had acquired crypto derivatives-focused trading firm Arbelos Markets as part of its foray into the highly profitable global derivatives market.
Several months later, FalconX formed a strategic partnership to integrate international banking group Standard Chartered's banking infrastructure and foreign exchange capabilities into its businesses, bolstering its institutional services. And in late May, the firm unveiled its deal with Cantor Fitzgerald to draw on a significant credit facility collateralized by Bitcoin—the “first step in a broader credit framework” that could allow FalconX to serve more traditional institutional investors, according to a LinkedIn post from FalconX CEO Raghu Yarlagadda.
“There are a lot of potential partnership or acquisition targets that provide a service in between our established business verticals—services that a customer might otherwise have to piece together from outside our firm," Joshua Lim said. “We want to strategically partner or buy companies that can fill those gaps.”
Edited by James Rubin
