Crypto Exchange Apifiny to Go Public Via $530M SPAC

The digital asset trading platform plans to list on Nasdaq after the merge

article-image

Source: Shutterstock

share

key takeaways

  • The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2022
  • Apifiny has partnered with over 20 of the top 100 crypto exchanges by trading volume including Huobi Global, OKEx, Kucoin, OKCoin and Blockchain.com

Digital asset trading platform Apifiny Group is the latest crypto company to go public via a special purpose acquisition company.

Apifiny has entered a $530 million agreement with Abri SPAC I  to become a publicly traded company on the Nasdaq. 

The deal is expected to close in the third quarter, subject to shareholder and regulatory approval. The combined company is valued at $530 million, including a contribution of up to $57 million of cash held in Abri’s trust account

“We aim to build a truly global digital asset trading network,” Haohan Xu, CEO of Apifiny, told Blockworks. “Going public is just the beginning of the journey.” 

Apifiny sees going public as a means to accelerate growth, become fully regulated and acquire customers more quickly Erez Simha, the company’s president and CFO, told Blockworks.

“When you look at the profile of the team at Abri, they’re highly operational and have many years of private equity experience which I’m sure will contribute to us later on,” Simha said. “At the end of the day, we want to have fun with what we’re doing and want to focus on the business, and I think this has met the criteria we put to ourselves before choosing a partner.”

Founded in 2018, Apifiny, has partnered with over 20 of the top 100 crypto exchanges by trading volume including Huobi Global, OKEx, Kucoin, OKCoin and Blockchain.com.

Last year, Apifiny was granted a US FINRA broker-dealer license, joining other crypto trading companies like Coinbase, Gemini and Circle. 

The company’s board of members include Tim Murphy, former deputy director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Laurence Charney, former partner of Ernst & Young and; Samuel Shen, CEO of Vnet Group, among others. 


Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter.

Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. Subscribe to the On the Margin newsletter.

The Lightspeed newsletter is all things Solana, in your inbox, every day. Subscribe to daily Solana news from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.

Tags

Upcoming Events

Salt Lake City, UT

MON - TUES, OCT. 7 - 8, 2024

Blockworks and Bankless in collaboration with buidlbox are excited to announce the second installment of the Permissionless Hackathon – taking place October 7-8 in Salt Lake City, Utah. We’ve partnered with buidlbox to bring together the brightest minds in crypto for […]

Salt Lake City, UT

WED - FRI, OCTOBER 9 - 11, 2024

Permissionless is a conference for founders, application developers, and users. Come meet the next generation of people building and using crypto.

recent research

Research Report Templates (1).png

Research

Solana Mobile is a highly ambitious foray into the mobile consumer hardware market, seeking to open up a crypto-native distribution channel for mobile-first applications. The market for Solana Mobile devices has demonstrated a phenomenon whereby external market actors (e.g. Solana-native projects) continuously underwrite subsidies to Mobile consumers. The value of these subsidies, coming in the form of airdrops, trial programs, and exclusive NFT mints, have consistently covered the cost of the phone and generated positive returns for consumers. Given this trend in subsidies, the unit economics in the market for Mobile devices, and the initial growth rate and trajectory of sales, it should be expected that Solana mobile can clear 1M to 10M units over the coming years. As more devices circulate amongst users, Solana Mobile presents a promising venue for the emergence of killer-applications uniquely enabled by this mobile-first, crypto-native distribution channel.

article-image

Plus, breaking down Donald Trump’s shifting crypto stance

article-image

Markets are holding relatively steady despite the supply shock

article-image

Analysts are looking ahead to August, a historically volatile month made more interesting this year by the US presidential election

article-image

Plus, a look into Lighting Labs’ newest feature

article-image

Crypto’s Wild West era is over — it’s time to embrace regulation to secure the future of digital assets

article-image

Plus, Solana has now surpassed Ethereum in trailing 30-day decentralized exchange volume