Aurox, a cryptocurrency trading terminal that places orders and matches them across multiple exchanges, intends to go public later this year, according to the platform’s CEO, Giorgi Khazaradze.
The specific path to a listing is still being worked out, Khazaradze told CoinDesk, but the firm is considering a series of options, including a SPAC (special purpose acquisition company) or reverse merger with an already-public company, he said.
While other crypto firms – led by Coinbase and including Bakkt and others – took to the public markets in 2021, a non-exchange going public is still rare in the world of digital assets (save for a bumper crop of bitcoin mining firms).
Founded in 2017, the Aurox trading terminal was launched in September 2020, and has gathered some 60,000 users to date, all done on an entirely self-funded basis, eschewing VC involvement, Khazaradze added. Neither has the platform completed any pre-sales of the Aurox token (URUS), launched in February 2021.
“One of the issues is that since we self-funded everything, we’re competing against companies that are raising $20 million at the drop of a hat,” said Khazaradze. “But we don’t want to go that route.”
Khazaradze said advisers to the firm have suggested a NASDAQ listing and there are a couple of options when it comes to pursuing that.
“We’re hoping to be public by 2022. We’ve already gone through multiple steps with our attorneys,” he said.
