EToro, a stock and crypto trading platform targeting retail investors, is seeking to sell shares to the public on the New York Stock Exchange, the Financial Times reported, citing a confidential filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission -United.
The sale, which could take place as early as the second quarter, could value the company at more than $5 billion, the FT said. Goldman Sachs, Jefferies and UBS advise the company.
If successful, eToro would join Coinbase (COIN) and Robinhood (HOOD) as one of the few publicly traded companies offering crypto trading in the United States. It would be much smaller than either: Coinbase has a market cap of $69 billion and Robinhood has $40 billion.
The valuation would also be less than half the level sought in 2021, when it planned to go public in a $10.4 billion deal with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). The attempt was abandoned at the end of 2022 due to unfavorable market conditions.
In 2023, eToro secured $250 million in funding at a valuation of $3.5 billion from investors including SoftBank as its valuation plunged, according to the FT. The valuation has since risen amid a rally in the stock and cryptocurrency market, and after the company agreed to pay $1.5 million to settle SEC charges, it operated as a broker unregistered and unregistered clearing agency and facilitated the trading of certain crypto assets as securities.
Although eToro’s cryptocurrency trading volume is not known, Finance Magnates reported last year that it jumped more than 500% in the year ended November.
The company, founded in Israel in 2007, reportedly manages $11.3 billion for more than 3 million clients. These assets include not only cryptocurrencies, but also stocks and exchange-traded funds.
Last year, following its agreement with the SEC, it agreed to abandon trading of several cryptocurrencies in the United States, thereby limiting its users in the country to trading bitcoin (BTC), bitcoin cash (BCH) and ether (ETH). .
The company did not respond to a request for comment.
