Some of the world’s most prestigious financial institutions could become acquisition targets for young cryptocurrency companies, according to the 29-year-old chief executive of digital coin exchange FTX. A tighter focus from regulators has not dulled the grand ambitions of senior executives in the rapidly growing cryptocurrency sector, where valuations for companies they founded just a few years ago match or surpass banks with a century or more of history behind them. These ambitions remain a stretch; FTX is seeking a valuation of around $20bn in its latest funding round, Bankman-Fried told Nikkei Asia, the FT’s sister publication, in a recent interview. Goldman Sachs has a market value of near $135bn and the CME weighs in at about $76bn.
Rival exchange Coinbase was valued at $76bn, the same amount as French banking giant BNP Paribas at the time of its public offering earlier this year, while crypto-focused payments company Circle announced its plans to list on public markets with a valuation of $4.5bn. Unlike many crypto evangelists, Bankman-Fried says traditional financial markets and digital currencies will exist in parallel, with complementary roles. Regulation is also inevitable, although it will take years for a global regulatory framework to emerge, in his view.