crypto-exchange
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Blockchain.com sold financial freedom. Then came a $270 million lesson.
A Bitcoin search tool grew into a wallet, a trading business and an institutional lender. Its journey toward a proposed IPO reveals how much changes when a company built around holding your own keys starts extending credit.
How a Bought Domain and a Matt Damon Ad Built a 150-Million-User Crypto Empire
It bought one of the most valuable domains on the internet, put its name on a Los Angeles arena, and spent a decade with no outside investors. Then Citadel Securities showed up.
The Exchange That Ripped Its Own Name Off the Wall
It dropped the "E," paid the fine, opened in San Jose, and put its reserves on a Merkle tree. Inside OKX's bet that self-custody - not the exchange - is the actual product.
Coinbase
How a Y Combinator startup that let people buy $5 of Bitcoin became the first crypto company in the S&P 500 - and why it now wants to be the exchange for everything.
FLOQ
FLOQ is an Indonesian crypto asset investment platform, licensed and supervised by the Financial Services Authority (OJK), that pairs cryptocurrency trading with financial education for retail investors. Rebranded in 2025 from PT Kripto Maksima Koin - a former GoTo (Gojek Tokopedia) subsidiary - and led by CEO Yudhono Rawis, the former Tokocrypto chief, FLOQ lets users start investing from as little as Rp1,000, backs it with ISO 27001-certified security, and layers on FLOQ Academy education. In mid-2026 it raised US$11.3 million in its first external funding round and reported more than 1.8 million registered users.
Klickl
Klickl is a regulated Web3 open-finance platform headquartered in Abu Dhabi that bridges traditional banking and digital assets. Founded in 2017, it offers crypto trading, custody, payments, multi-currency accounts, cards and OTC services under licenses from Abu Dhabi's ADGM, Poland (VASP/EU) and the US (FinCEN MSB). In December 2024 it raised a $25M Series A at a $125M valuation to expand across the MENA region and other emerging markets.
Kraken
Kraken is one of the oldest and largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, founded in 2011 and launched in 2013 by Jesse Powell after the Mt. Gox security failures convinced him crypto needed an exchange built on trust. Operated by parent company Payward, Inc., Kraken lets retail and institutional clients buy, sell, trade, stake, and self-custody dozens of digital assets, alongside crypto futures, margin, and index products. By late 2025 it served over 5 million funded accounts, held tens of billions in client assets, and was preparing for a public listing.