Nasdaq will invest US$50 million (A$75.6 million) into cryptocurrency exchange Gemini ahead of its initial public offering on Friday.
Gemini plans to raise up to $433.3 million in its Nasdaq debut. The exchange was founded in 2014 by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, who settled a 2008 lawsuit alleging Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg had unlawfully used their ideas and code to create Facebook.
The IPO will include 16.67 million shares. “As a trusted bridge between the traditional financial system and the emerging cryptoeconomy, we are providing access for individuals and institutions to a decentralized future that is more open, fair, and secure,” Gemini wrote in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
Gemini raised its IPO price to $24 to $26 per share, after first announcing it would be $17 to $19 per share last week. Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, and Cantor will be Gemini’s lead bookrunners.
Nasdaq will buy $50 million of Gemini’s common stock in a private placement, Gemini said. As part of the investment agreement, Nasdaq will partner with Gemini to offer custodial services to Nasdaq clients and as a distribution partner for its Calypso trade management system.
“To prepare for future developments while maintaining an open-ecosystem approach to market infrastructure, we will partner with Gemini on a non-exclusive basis as part of a broader strategy to offer multi-custodial and staking services for crypto assets,” Nasdaq told CNBC.
Gemini hosts over $21 billion in assets on its platform, the company said, with a lifetime trading volume of more than $285 billion.
Gemini’s IPO is oversubscribed, Bloomberg reported. It will become the third publicly traded cryptocurrency exchange in the U.S., with shares in crypto exchange Bullish gaining more than 83% in its first day of trading last month.
Stablecoin issuer Figure Technologies also raised the price range for its IPO today and will debut on the Nasdaq on Thursday.
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