Tokenize Crypto Exchange Plans Hiring, Expansion

Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange Tokenize Xchange said it is planning an acquisition expansion in Asia and will hire hundreds of employees, even as a fall in the price of crypto has forced several exchanges to shed jobs and even shut down.

Tokenize wants to raise as much as $1 billion in the next 12 months to fund its expansion, said Hong Qi Yu, who founded the company in 2017 when the engineering graduate was 27 years old and had spent four years as a trader in finance. markets.

Hong declined to provide details on how he intends to raise the amount.

Earlier this year, Tokenize raised $11.5 million in Series A Phase 1 funding from venture capital firm Trive and individuals. According to crypto data analytics company CoinCarp, Tokenize is planning a Series B funding round next year valued at $300 million.

“We want to be a dominant player in Asia in the next three years,” Hong said Discard in an interview. “Every jurisdiction in Asia when they talk about where to buy Bitcoin, they want to talk about Tokenize. That’s our ambition.”

Hong said the company has about 100 employees and is aiming for a total of 1,000 within three years as it expands to as many as 50 jurisdictions in Asia. He said the expansion will be driven by acquisitions to avoid lengthy licensing processes in different countries.

He did not share details about any specific acquisition targets or whether the company is currently in talks with other exchanges.

“We just have to be more aggressive to expand and move faster compared to the rest,” Hong said.

Rules

Tokenize Xchange is one of many operating under an “exception” in Singapore while its application for a license to trade digital assets is considered.

Tokenize has one license approved in Malaysia and hopes to receive licenses in Thailand and Indonesia soon, Hong said.

“When we acquire, we definitely need the exchanges to be licensed. That’s our strict criteria,” Hong said.

Central banks and regulators are tightening oversight of cryptocurrency trading after several bankruptcies in the industry following the $40 billion collapse of the Terra-LUNA stablecoin project this year.

The US, UK, Singapore, Thailand and India are introducing tougher rules on digital assets to improve investor protection and curb money laundering.

The total capitalization of the cryptocurrency market has plunged almost 70% from a record high of $2.9 trillion in November. Amid the downturn, Nasdaq-listed Eqonex Ltd. closed. its crypto exchange in Singapore, while exchanges such as CoinFlex and Coinbase have laid off employees.

Still, like Tokenize, some exchanges see opportunity in the downturn. Singapore’s Coinhako has said it plans to expand in Asia, while the world’s largest asset manager BlackRock Inc. plans a spot Bitcoin trust, citing interest from institutional clients in the United States

NFTs and institutions

Hong said the company is also venturing into non-fungible tokens (NFTs) with the launch of its first NFT this week on its marketplace – Elemint – which opened in July.

NFT sales on the site reached about $8 million in less than four days after launch, Hong said.

Tokenizes Mascot NFT, TBOT Fight Club (TBFC), one of the first NFT collections to be auctioned this week, is a collection of 555 collectibles.

However, NFTs in general have not escaped the crypto downturn.

According to NFT aggregation website CryptoSlam, the number of unique non-fungible token (NFT) buyers in August fell below 500,000 for the first time in a year, while total sales rose to $730 million from July’s $650 million led by a surge in Ethereum- price at the beginning of August.

Tokenize has 300,000 users and with 80% retail traders, they will now look to expand services for institutions, such as banks and hedge funds, Hong said.

“We will continue aggressively to grow both audiences. We’re not taking sides. But the priority right now for the next six months, I would say, is institutional focus,” Hong said.

This strategy is in line with the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s warnings to retail traders about the risks of cryptocurrency trading. The central bank has restricted crypto advertising in public areas and has consistently advised the public to avoid cryptocurrencies.

“I think retail is very price-oriented and tends to sell now because of panic,” Hong said, while “institutional investors will invest in new products under the current market conditions.”