In a striking upsurge in the last six months, buy-side demand for cryptocurrency has skyrocketed by 28% in anticipation of several Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) of digital asset firms. Fueling this increase is a potent combination of a bull market in cryptocurrencies and mounting enthusiasm over public listings of crypto powerhouses.
The most notable potential entrant to the public market is Kraken, a leading cryptocurrency exchange. As the company flirts with the possibility of going public, institutional investors have intensified their focus on established crypto entities, propelling buy-side metrics upward.
Beyond the spike in institutional interest, another dimension of this phenomenon is the heightened demand for secondaries—shares held by early investors and employees of these firms. The eagerness for these shares further exemplifies the burgeoning enthusiasm among investors hungry for a piece of the crypto pie.
According to recent data from Forge Global, a striking 126% increase in crypto buy-side demand has been documented this year as compared to the first six months of 2023. Moreover, this figure represents a 28% uptick from the second half of the previous year, highlighting a booming investor appetite for equities within private crypto players such as Ripple, Kraken, and Chainalysis.
Individual equities have witnessed remarkable price jumps, with Kraken’s equity ballooning by an impressive 77% this year. In parallel, Chainalysis and Ripple have enjoyed their fair share of growth, with jumps of 17% and 13%, respectively.
Interestingly, this ramp-up in demand has not reached the record-setting peaks of the 2021 bull run. Experts point to the substantial price hikes of Bitcoin and other assets this year as a plausible explanation for the pairing back. Notably, Bitcoin achieved an all-time high, cresting at $73k, igniting a surge in institutional inflows and sparking intensified interest in an array of crypto assets.
Amid this momentum came the approval of spot Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) and the commencement of trading, attracting inflows from traditional investment quarters, previously reticent to delve into the digital asset space.
This year has also witnessed a rally in altcoins and crypto stocks. With whispers of impending IPOs for juggernauts such as Kraken, the investor community has been abuzz, positioning themselves strategically to capitalize on these digital asset ventures as they transition from the private to the public domain.
