Bloomberg: Wall Street banks are betting on the crypto industry IPO boom and are expanding related businesses

Odaily Planet Daily News After keeping a wait-and-see attitude, some of Wall Street's largest banks are plotting how to win more cryptocurrency business, betting that President Trump's support for the industry will trigger a wave of IPOs, stock sales and convertible bonds. Morgan Stanley, which previously did not dominate the field, is now courting potential clients for IPOs, while executives at Bank of America are also discussing potential moves to promote transactions for digital asset companies, according to people familiar with the matter. Royal Bank of Canada is looking to do more business after completing its first cryptocurrency transaction at the end of last year, a person familiar with the matter said. Banks are seeking to establish deeper ties with cryptocurrency companies to avoid missing out on transactions driven by more relaxed policies under Trump. Gemini, owned by the Winklevoss twins, is the latest crypto company to consider an IPO this year, in addition to crypto asset exchange operator Bullish, whose backers include billionaire Peter Thiel, while Circle Internet Financial Ltd. and cryptocurrency exchange Kraken have also been looking forward to listing. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. is also actively involved in cryptocurrency trading, advising Bullish on a potential listing along with JPMorgan Chase. The firm is also one of the banks working on the IPO of Figure Technologies Inc., a financial technology company co-founded by former SoFi Technologies Inc. head Mike Cagney. Moelis & Co. and Cantor Fitzgerald are also among the firms active in the space. While Morgan Stanley is not involved in Coinbase's IPO, the bank did help the company issue convertible bonds last year. One of the people familiar with the matter said the firm is eager to be part of the future IPO wave. (Bloomberg)