FTX is reportedly weighing plans to go public as Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon met FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried in March this year to discuss potential partnership, the Financial Times has learned, citing two people familiar with the matter.
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As per the report, Solomon and Bankman-Fried discussed lobbying of FTX's interest with US regulators, in particular the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The New York-based banking giant also wants to advise the exchange on future funding rounds, and FTX's two chief execs discussed if the bank could participate in a potential initial public offering.
However, currently FTX's CEO Bankman-Fried is more in favor of private fundraising options instead of IPO. No final decision on whether to take the exchange public has been made so far.
The move comes after Goldman Sachs announced plans to start offering over-the-counter (OTC) cash-settled ether options. According to Andrei Kazantsev, global head of crypto trading at Goldman, the update is "in due course." Although, the bank doesn't have spot crypto trading, it gives its clients access to European and Canadian exchange-traded products (ETPs) that can be used as a proxy.
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