Japanese Crypto Exchange Coincheck Plans $1.3B SPAC

Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck is preparing to go public on the Nasdaq via a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) merger worth $1.3 billion, Bloomberg reported Wednesday (March 23).

Coincheck expects to complete the merger with Thunder Bridge Capital Partners IV in the second half of the year, receiving $240 million in cash from the deal, according to the report.

The exchange, owned by Monex, has roughly 1.5 million verified customers, per the report. Following the SPAC merger, Monex will hold onto a majority stake in the new company, owning 82% of the combined organization versus the 94% it owns now.

Monex said in November that its TradeStation Group unit was due to list its online trading subsidiary in a deal involving Galaxy Digital Holdings, the report stated. TradeStation has said it would finalize its merger with Quantum FinTech Acquisition Corp. in the first half of this year, and then begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

Coincheck was the victim of one of the largest crypto hacks in history in 2018, when cybercriminals broke into the exchange, stealing roughly $500 million worth of XEM, the native coin of blockchain project New Economy Movement or NEM, according to the report.

In 2020, Coincheck was subject to a data breach, with attackers using private information to impersonate the firm.

Read more: Japan’s Coincheck Victim of Data Hack

Coincheck came under attack by an unknown third party, which was able to access an account it held with Onamae.com, and then used an official email to send “fraudulent” emails to users.

The attacks affected around 200 users, who had their private data exposed, including names, email addresses and ID photos.