Yoni Assia, CEO of eToro, recently discussed the thinking behind the effort of going public. Yoni Assia said a storm of investment platforms and social media is approaching, which he deemed as a “perfect storm.” The CEO continued by saying that they can anticipate the rise of participation in the international market because of the increase in popularity in cryptocurrencies. Yoni said, when eToro launched, it was the same vision of a global market open for anyone to exchange, invest smoothly and transparently.
The year 2020 came as a blessing for eToro who managed to increase its revenue by 147% because the crypto bull market was booming. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies enjoyed a great year, only declining significantly in the early part of the year in March and quickly rising back to set new records in December.
On 16th March, eToro released a statement regarding a special purpose acquisition, saying that the company plans to go public in Nasdaq. Typically, this sort-of joint venture consists of a privately owned company joining with an already established public company, ultimately going public indirectly. Yoni Assia, in his interview, said that he is extremely thrilled about the prospect of growth such a decision would make.
Not only eToro is thinking of going public, but the crypto trading platform Coinbase is also planning on going public in Nasdaq this April. Identically, a digital resource-based company Diginex also went public in Nasdaq last October, following the same SPAC plan as eToro currently is thinking of pursuing.
At the moment, eToro has already singled out a Nasdaq-based company which they are willing to acquire. It is named Fintech V, which was previously branded as Fintech Acquisition Corp V and is traded using the stock symbol FTCV.
Assia pointed out that this non-conventional way of going public allows many investors to start investing indirectly in eToro as soon as the company releases its intention to go public. Although eToro has not yet selected a ticker name, according to Assia, they will not stick with FTVC.
The CEO pointed out that not much will alter for eToro in terms of the operational side of things as eToro will continue serving customers, making advancements in technology and its products. He concluded his interview by saying that eToro, with its investment in equity and acquisition of SPAC, will allow the financial books to cross the $1 billion mark, enabling them to be more aggressive in the expansion of eToro.