Cryptocurrency Exchange and Wallet Provider Blockchain.com have taken new steps towards a potentially preliminary public offer (IPO) by appointing two experienced leaders with financial and operational expertise.

Blockchain.com employed Justin Evans, who previously worked at Goldman Sachs, as his new CFO, BLOOMBERG reported. It also appointed Mike Wilcox, former CFO for Velocity Global and former Point72 portfolio manager, as its CEO.

Evans said the exchange is “to take the necessary steps to be a public company if and when the public markets are available.”

The move comes in the midst of a flurry of other cryptocurrency companies reported to consider becoming public, including Circle, Kraken, Bullish Global (parent company in Coindesk), Gemini, Ripple and Bitgo.

Cultivation of institutional adoption by major companies, including Blackrock and Fidelity, launched Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) offerings in the Cryptocurrency Room, and the more balanced approach that US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is expected to take against digital assets, creates a potentially more favorable environment for these companies to become public.

Blockchain.com has seen its valuation swing over time. In March 2021, it raised $ 300 million for a valuation of $ 5.2 billion after money in its series C financing round. By 2022, it closed a financing round that increased its valuation to $ 14 billion, while in November 2023 it closed a $ 110 million financing round estimating the company for $ 7 billion.