CoinDCX to try for an IPO as soon as the government allows
They are planning to promote blockchain technology
CoinDCX, India’s first cryptocurrency unicorn, intends to go public as soon as regulations permit it, as per co-founder Neeraj Khandelwal. The share sale, similar to Coinbase Global Inc.’s U.S. listing earlier this year, would be a key vote of confidence for India’s digital asset industry, Khandelwal said in an interview with Bloomberg Television on Monday.
“As soon as the government or the situation allows us, we will try for an IPO,” he said. “An IPO gives legitimacy to the industry, just like the Coinbase IPO gave a lot of confidence in the crypto markets. Similarly we want to instill a similar level of confidence with an IPO of CoinDCX.”
The firm will decide on a “precise timeline” depending on incoming government regulations, Khandelwal said. “We certainly will look at that in order to grow the industry further,” he said.
CoinDCX’s expansion plans come at a pivotal moment in the industry’s future in India, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government prepares a bill to regulate cryptocurrencies. The central bank has made it clear that it intends to ban all private cryptocurrencies while developing an official digital currency. The government, on the other hand, is willing to make exceptions in order to promote blockchain technology.
Indian regulators have walked the line in their approach to the burgeoning industry. The country effectively banned cryptocurrency transactions in 2018, but the Supreme Court overturned that ban last year.
According to a recent opinion poll, more than half of those polled in India are opposed to legalising cryptocurrencies, preferring to tax them as a digital asset held in a foreign country.
“The bill coming up at this juncture signals progress and really acknowledgment from the government side of the growing investor base for crypto,” Khandelwal said.
This year, CoinDCX raised 6.70 billion rupees ($90 million) from a group of investors led by Facebook Inc. co-founder Eduardo Saverin’s B Capital Group. Sumit Gupta, the company’s CEO and co-founder, stated at the time that the funding round valued the company at $1.1 billion.
