The owner of Thai crypto exchange Bitkub Online plans to sell shares to the public next year and is in the process of hiring financial advisers, Bitkub Capital Group CEO Jirayut Srupsrisopa told Bloomberg.

Thailand's biggest crypto exchange provides about 80% of the Bangkok-based parent's profit and is 9.2% owned by Asphere Innovations. The initial public offering (IPO) is expected to value the exchange at more than 6 billion baht ($165 million), Jirayut said. Bitkub Capital had signaled its intention to sell shares to the public in a 2023 letter to shareholders that didn't give a timeframe, Bloomberg said.

Demand for access to cryptocurrency trading accounts has climbed alongside the gains in bitcoin (BTC), which has advanced 57% this year while the CoinDesk 20 Index, a measure of the broader crypto market, added 49%. Last month, the number of active accounts in the country reached the highest level since September 2022, Bloomberg said, citing data from the country's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Bitkub is also facing increased competition. In January, Binance Thailand – a venture of the world's largest crypto exchange by trading volume and Gulf Innova – opened for business.

A 2022 plan for Siam Commercial Bank (SCB), Thailand’s oldest lender, to buy 51% of Bitkub Online for 17.85 billion baht was canceled after the SEC suppered the deal. In September 2022, Bitkub was included in a group sued by the SEC for allegedly artificially inflating trading volumes.

CORRECTION (April 11, 14:56 UTC): Corrects IPO valuation to more than 6 billion baht, which referred to the level attained in an earlier transaction.