Blockchain infrastructure provider Blockdaemon Inc may pursue an initial public offering (IPO) in 2026, its founder Konstantin Richter said.

“Let’s see how 2025 holds up and then, I think 2026 would be a year where we might want to pursue something like that,” Richter said in an interview. “That would be a good timeframe. The company would be eight, nine years old, by then.”

The US-based firm, founded in 2017, has garnered over 400 institutional customers and a roster of backers, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc, JPMorgan Chase & Co, and Citi Ventures Inc, the Blockdaemon website shows. 

Richter said Blockdaemon’s latest valuation is about US$3.3 billion . At the moment, Hong Kong is preferable to the US for a listing, as the crypto regulatory environment in the latter (the US) “is just really bad,” he said on Wednesday. The backdrop is set to improve after the US elections in November, regardless of the outcome, he added.

Richter is also the company’s chief executive officer and was speaking on the sidelines of a crypto conference in Singapore. Asia is a growth driver for the business, and the firm will probably double the size of the team in the region, in a year, he said.

Blockdaemon’s post-money valuation was US$3.25 billion, in a US$207 million funding round in 2022 that included the SoftBank Vision Fund 2, according to a release. 

The crypto industry is expanding again this year, after emerging from a market rout and a spate of corporate blow-ups that cast a pall across the sector. 

  - Bloomberg