Crypto Prime Brokerage FalconX in Early Talks for IPO in 2025: Sources

FalconX has held early-stage talks to issue an initial public offering and could file to go public as soon as this year, three sources close to the matter told Decrypt—a move that would boost the firm’s bid to meet growing institutional demand for digital assets.

The cryptocurrency prime brokerage firm has held informal discussions with bankers and consultants to explore the IPO process, those sources said. FalconX is considering tapping public markets as it ramps up its pursuit of strategic partnerships and acquisitions, with the aim of meeting institutional investors’ growing appetite for cryptocurrencies.

The firm has not yet hired an investment bank—the first official step toward a public listing.

FalconX last received an $8 billion valuation in a $150 million funding round in 2022.

The firm declined to comment on whether it has explored issuing an IPO.

As part of its discussions, FalconX has also explored ways to raise its public profile, two sources told Decrypt. It’s a move that could aid FalconX’s bid to shore up fresh capital for its growing firm, which has recently ramped up its dealmaking.

“When you launch an IPO, you need to have a story,” one individual familiar with the matter told Decrypt.“You’re selling yourself to the investing public.”

FalconX’s discussions come amid an IPO boom across the cryptocurrency industry.

An unprecedented number of digital asset companies, including Bitcoin financial services firm Fold, crypto software wallet Exodus, and trading platform eToro, have gone public in 2025. Among them is stablecoin issuer Circle, whose roughly $1.1 billion public listing on June 5 formed the largest crypto IPO in recent history, fueling industry experts’ expectations that more digital assets companies will soon jump into the fray.

Over the past few weeks, several crypto companies have signaled they will soon attempt to tap public markets. Shortly after Circle’s blockbuster IPO, centralized cryptocurrency exchanges Bullish and Gemini filed for IPOs. Meanwhile, digital assets trading platform Kraken and Chinese billionaire Justin Sun’s Tron Group plan to file with U.S. federal regulators to go public as well, according to recent reports from Bloomberg and The Financial Times.

Financial services provider for crypto

Founded in 2018, FalconX debuted as a crypto-focused prime brokerage, providing access to markets for clients to trade directly on exchanges. Since then, it has matured into a full-fledged trading firm and digital assets services provider.

FalconX aims to be “a financial services provider for the next generation of crypto,” FalconX co-head of markets Joshua Lim told Decrypt, declining to comment on whether FalconX has been exploring raising fresh funds.

The firm has three verticals—a markets business, a custody and staking business, and a prime brokerage direct-market-access business. It operates similarly to a principal trading business or a dealer, committing capital for its clients.

Over the past year, FalconX has ramped up its dealmaking to support its widening mandate across its business verticals. The deals position the firm to serve a wider range of clients at a time that investors’ interest in crypto is booming.

In early 2025, FalconX unveiled it had acquired crypto derivatives-focused trading firm Arbelos Markets as part of its foray into the highly profitable global derivatives market.

Several months later, FalconX formed a strategic partnership to integrate international banking group Standard Chartered’s banking infrastructure and foreign exchange capabilities into its businesses, bolstering its institutional services. And in late May, the firm unveiled its deal with Cantor Fitzgerald to draw on a significant credit facility collateralized by Bitcoin—the “first step in a broader credit framework” that could allow FalconX to serve more traditional institutional investors, according to a LinkedIn post from FalconX CEO Raghu Yarlagadda.

“There are a lot of potential partnership or acquisition targets that provide a service in between our established business verticals—services that a customer might otherwise have to piece together from outside our firm,” Joshua Lim said. “We want to strategically partner or buy companies that can fill those gaps.”

Edited by James Rubin