Bitcoin company joins the publicly traded ‘Fold’

A bitcoin financial services company is now listed on the Nasdaq

February 19, 2025 04:00 pm

Goran Vrhovac/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

This is a segment from the Forward Guidance newsletter. To read full editions, subscribe.

A bitcoin financial services company is now listed on the Nasdaq — joining a limited list of public players in the segment.

Called Fold, the company revealed a combination with FTAC Emerald Acquisition Corp. last July in an effort to go public.

Then, in December, Fold closed a $20 million convertible note financing from ATW Partners. That was secured in part by the company’s bitcoin holdings (totaling roughly 1,000 BTC) as collateral and was set to mature three years after Fold became a public company.

Newsletter

Subscribe to The Breakdown

That brings us to today, when Fold shares were set to start trading on the Nasdaq after its deal with FTAC was approved. Founded in 2019, Fold lets customers accumulate BTC through its rewards program.

Among the top crypto predictions for 2025 were more crypto-related companies going public — joining Coinbase, Strategy and a bunch of miners.

Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz said at the Ondo Summit earlier this month he expected such progress on that front by May or June. His firm has been waiting to list publicly in the US for four-plus years.

Shares of crypto wallet provider Exodus hit the NYSE American stock exchange in December. That company held 1,900 BTC and 2,660 ETH in its reserves at the time.

Dan Weiskopf, co-portfolio manager of the Amplify Transformational Data Sharing ETF (BLOK), said he counts about 20 blockchain-related companies at various stages of the US public listing process (or considering it).

A revamped SEC that has Hester Peirce leading a crypto task force should support an expected 2025 public listing boom, Weiskopf added.

“Bitcoin price action will continue to be the focus of excitement,” he told me. “But behind the scenes people forget that the picks and axes are also an important way to capitalize on the innovation that is in front of us.”

Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

The Breakdown: Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily.
0xResearch: Alpha in your inbox. Think like an analyst.

Tags

Newsletter

The Breakdown

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Digital Asset Summit 2026

Javits Center North | 445 11th Ave

Tues - Thurs, March 24 - 26, 2026

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

buy tickets learn more

recent research

Research

ERC 8004: Introducing Trust for AI Agents

ERC 8004 introduces a new trust layer for AI agents by standardizing onchain identity, reputation, and validation. As agents begin handling capital and coordinating autonomously, trust becomes the key constraint to broader adoption. The rollout mirrors the early x402 narrative, where adoption lagged the initial launch until major integrations and a viral use case pulled attention into the ecosystem. If ERC 8004 follows a similar path, downstream infrastructure tied to the standard could see outsized benefit as the narrative gains traction. The primary beneficiaries are likely to be agent frameworks and launchpads at the distribution layer, agent to agent coordination platforms that enable delegation and payments, and validation providers that offer stronger security and execution guarantees.

by Kunal Doshi