Proud to announce that the much anticipated Persistence One Incentivized Testnet is live! Built with community feedback, it pushes us closer to enabling fast, zero-slippage swaps across Bitcoin L2s. Powered by Intents. 

Here is everything you must know:

In this in-depth guide, find out everything you need to participate in Persistence One’s BTC Interop incentivized testnet. 

The above is great practice for those of you either learning to use Metamask/swaps or need to learn. 

Once your done, you will end up with something that looks like this:

Don't say, "I CAN'T DO THAT", Yes you can, just follow the instructions line by line and don't skip ahead, and you will be fine. Besides, there will be an airdrop coming for those that participate! 

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After more than a decade of regulatory uncertainty and an especially tumultuous four years under the Biden Administration, crypto’s IPO window has swung wide open thanks to sky-high prices and the inauguration of America’s first pro-crypto president!

With multiple major crypto firms now rumored to be gearing up for a public debut, could this finally be the moment crypto takes over Wall Street? Here’s a look at the top five contenders we’re watching for a 2025 IPO. 👇

💎 Gemini

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Launched in 2014 by the billionaire Winklevoss twins, Gemini is a cryptocurrency exchange, custody provider, and stablecoin issuer. The firm first signaled its intentions to go public over four years ago in January 2021.

Following the disastrous implosion of FTX, Gemini was forced to halt withdrawals from its “Earn” program, which had extended loans to the bankrupt exchange through a third-party lender called Genesis. Gemini later settled for $50M over the matter with the State of New York, and was fortuitously able to return 100% of funds owed to depositors.

While the subsequent onset of crypto’s bear market caused valuations to collapse and forced Gemini to shelve its IPO ambitions, recent Bloomberg reporting indicates that the Winklevi are considering a 2025 IPO. 

Gemini’s sole external raise – announced in November 2021 – secured $400M in funding at a $7.1B valuation.

🔵 Circle

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No list of crypto’s top IPO contenders would be complete without Circle. The company ranks as the largest audited stablecoin issuer, and its $56B of dollar-pegged assets inundate every major blockchain in existence!

Circle terminated plans to go public via SPAC merger with Concord Acquisition Corp in December 2022, but disclosed in January 2024 that it had "confidentially" filed for a U.S. initial public offering with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Subject to "market and other conditions," the firm’s IPO can take place at any time once the SEC completes its registration review process.

Last September, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire unveiled plans to migrate company headquarters to the heart of New York City’s financial district with an office that will occupy the entire 87th floor of the iconic One World Trade Center.

Circle has raised approximately $1.5B across multiple funding rounds since inception in 2013 and was previously valued at $9B before its abandoned SPAC merger.

 🦑 Kraken

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Shortly after competitive crypto exchange Coinbase’s highly successful stock market debut at a $47B valuation in April 2021, Kraken CEO Jesse Powell announced plans to take his exchange public during the second half of 2022.

Although the firm’s IPO ambitions appeared to fizzle out after Powell resigned from his post in September 2022, Bloomberg reported last June that Kraken was seeking to raise $100M through a pre-IPO round and confirmed last month that it had received $27M in primary capital from the offering.

Kraken has conducted over 20 separate fundraising rounds and was rumored to have been valued at $20B during its Series D raise conducted near the crypto market peak in 2021.

Digital Currency Group

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Digital Currency Group is one of the oldest crypto-focused venture conglomerates in existence and has been an integral component of crypto capital markets since their nascency!

DCG held exposure in over 160 portfolio companies as of early 2023, but was forced to divest from some of these holdings – including all interest in crypto publisher CoinDesk – to raise cash for bad FTX loans made through lending subsidiary Genesis. Notably, crypto asset manager Grayscale remains a wholly owned subsidiary of Digital Currency Group.

While a $700M November 2021 equity raise valued DCG at $10B, the firm’s most recent publicly available shareholder letter for Q4 2023 wrote down its valuation to just $4.4B; this figure has undoubtedly increased in the months since, alongside the crypto market rebound.

🦊 Consensys

Website | Twitter

Founded in 2014 by Ethereum co-founder and former Goldman Sachs VP Joseph Lubin, Consensys was born to be an independent software engineering firm that could support the development of Ethereum with third-party applications, like its popular MetaMask wallet.

While there have been no official Consensys IPO announcements, Lubin’s emoticon smiley face response (seen below) to a January 2025 tweet imploring Consensys to go public and adopt an Ether treasury accumulation strategy could indicate an IPO is on the horizon.

Consensys last raised $450M in a 2022 Series D round that valued the firm at $7B.

🙋‍♂️ Honorable Mentions

Alongside Circle and Kraken, in its “10 Predictions for 2025” report, crypto-native asset manager Bitwise cited infrastructure provider Anchorage Digital, tokenization firm Figure, and analytics service Chainalysis as prime candidates for an impending IPO.

Bullish Global, the Peter Thiel-backed crypto exchange that purchased DCG’s ownership in CoinDesk, is reportedly entertaining public listing strategies with Jefferies Financial Group and JPMorgan Chase; meanwhile, the impending resolution of the SEC’s XRP lawsuit – now in appeal with the Second Circuit Court – likely clears the way for a Ripple IPO.

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Ripple, the leading provider of digital asset infrastructure for financial institutions, today announced a partnership with Portuguese currency exchange provider Unicâmbio to support instant cross-border payments between Portugal and Brazil using Ripple Payments, which leverages digital assets for faster, cheaper, more efficient cross-border payments.

This collaboration marks the first time that Ripple’s payments solution has been made available in Portugal, expanding the digital asset leader’s European footprint while strengthening the Portugal-Brazil payments corridor. By leveraging Ripple’s payments solution, Unicâmbio’s corporate customers will be able to move funds and settle payments in a matter of minutes - reducing the time and friction to make moving value dramatically more efficient.

“Our partnership with Unicâmbio is a significant milestone in Ripple’s European expansion. Portugal has developed a thriving crypto ecosystem so we are delighted to open up our payments solution to partners there,” said Cassie Craddock, Managing Director, UK & Europe, at Ripple.

 

"By connecting our payment networks in Portugal and Brazil we are facilitating faster, more cost-effective cross-border payments, while strengthening the economic bridge between these two major markets. Ripple has over a decade of experience of tokenising real-world assets, starting with bringing fiat currencies onchain to seamlessly send money across borders. As the global cross-border payments market continues to expand, more institutions like Unicâmbio are leaning in to benefit from the inherent benefits of blockchain technology.”

"Portugal and Brazil share deep economic and cultural ties, with significant money flows between the two countries," said Adriana Jerónimo, Executive Board Member at Unicâmbio.

 

"By leveraging blockchain technology we're transforming money movement between the two nations. Ripple’s crypto-enabled payments solution enables near-instant settlement and drastically reduces costs compared to traditional payments channels, delivering real value to our customers."

The partnership builds upon Ripple's established presence in Brazil with leading customers like Travelex Bank, which has been a Ripple partner since 2022, and Mercado Bitcoin, Latin America's largest cryptocurrency exchange, which joined Ripple's network late last year.

Thanks to its simple, secure, compliant digital asset infrastructure, Ripple is well positioned to provide the core services that financial institutions need to tokenize, store, exchange and move digital assets. Ripple Payments has near-global coverage with 90+ payout markets representing more than 90% coverage of the daily FX markets, processing more than $70 billion in volume. Ripple has over a decade of experience in the digital asset space and holds 60+ regulatory licenses and registrations in various jurisdictions.

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