- The Asian exchange will list via a special purpose acquisition with Thunder Bridge Capital Partners IV
- Coincheck has in the past suffered breaches and serious cyber-attacks
Coincheck, a 'vintage' crypto exchange and digital wallet firm, on Tuesday said it will soon list on the Nasdaq after completing a special purpose acquisition (SPAC) with Thunder Bridge Capital Partners IV at a $1.25 billion pre-money valuation.
The SPAC deal will see the Coincheck crypto exchange become a subsidiary of Coincheck Group (CCG). However, the statement insisted that CCG shall remain under the umbrella of Monex Group, which took over the crypto exchange in 2018. Monex Group currently owns 92% of Coincheck and will own 82% of the new 'combined' firm.
Via the combined holding, Coincheck aims to list in the next quarter on the stock exchange under the CNCK ticker. This merger could point to the comeback of the SPAC deals that were quite popular in 2020 – a blank check firm (publicly traded) joins up with a private firm.
Exposure to the US market should bring wholesome growth
The exchange, used by at least 1.5 million verified users and holder of the most diverse plate of tokens in Japan, stands to benefit from the merger. The benefits will be in the form of enhanced growth and improved quality of services it offers customers.
According to the president of Thunder Bridge Capital, Gary Simanson, the partnership should push the firm to the next phase. Simanson's confidence in the exchange's growth lies in the partnership bringing Coincheck to the US market.
He also expects the collaboration to help take the crypto economy in Japan to an even higher level.
"We are excited to partner with Monex to bring Coincheck into the US public markets to facilitate its next stage of growth, and to further unlock the crypto economy for customers and institutions in Japan. We are also excited to work with Oki and his team to build a global digital platform under the Coincheck brand. This business combination and holding company structure makes it all possible," he said as per the released press statement.
Coincheck recently announced a beta NFT marketplace, whose services the exchange says it will expand using funding from the NASDAQ listing.
Some black patches in the past
Notably, the Japanese crypto exchange has been a victim of past attacks by cybercriminals.
In 2020, it saw a critical hack that left the personal information of several users exposed – their birth dates and addresses. It's not an isolated incident, though, as another occurrence saw the loss of $500 million worth of NEM cryptocurrency in 2018.