Crypto trading firm FalconX has confidentially filed a draft S-1 registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the first step toward a potential public listing, according to a person familiar with the matter.
FalconX has hired Wall Street heavyweight Cantor and other bankers to advise on its initial public offering (IPO), said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the matter is private.
The California company’s IPO is not expected to happen before the end of the year, given market conditions, the person added. CoinDesk previously reported that Cantor was among the firms pitching FalconX for its potential listing.
Both FalconX and Cantor declined to comment.
FalconX is a brokerage and trading firm that primarily serves institutional clients, including hedge funds, asset managers and market makers. Founded in 2018, it operates as a digital asset prime broker providing services such as trade execution, liquidity access, credit and clearing. In June 2022, the company raised $150 million in a Series D funding round that valued the company at $8 billion.
Crypto firms entered 2026 expecting a strong year for IPOs after successful listings by companies like Circle ( CRCL ) and Bullish ( BLSH ), CoinDesk’s parent company, helped revive investor appetite for digital asset companies in 2025.
Since then, however, deteriorating market conditions, weaker trading volumes, and weak post-IPO performance from new public firms such as BitGo (BTGO) have cooled enthusiasm for further crypto IPOs.
Several major crypto companies, including Payward, Kraken’s parent company; Ethereum software developer Consensys; hardware wallet maker Ledger, and asset manager Grayscale, have since postponed their IPO plans while they wait for market conditions to improve.
Some companies are still pushing ahead with their plans to go public. Blockchain.com said last week that it had confidentially filed for a US IPO with the SEC.
Meanwhile, Securitize has agreed to merge with Cantor Equity Partners II, a Nasdaq-listed special-purpose buyout firm, in a deal that will make it one of the few publicly traded firms focused primarily on tokenized securities and real-world assets.
Read More: Crypto IPOs Could Create Massive $1 Trillion Market Amid Tokenization Wave, Jefferies Says
