Aquaculture Firm Completes Australia’s First IPO Raise Using Cryptocurrency

Australia-based West Coast Aquaculture (WCA) has completed an A$5 million (US$3.65 million) initial public offering, becoming the first firm in the nation to use cryptocurrency for its capital raise. In an announcement provided to CoinDesk on Monday, fintech firm STAX said it had assisted WCA in raising just over 89%, or just over A$4.4 million (US$3.2 million), of the total raise via the stablecoin tether (USDT), a cryptocurrency with its price linked to the U.S. dollar on a 1:1 basis.

STAX describes itself as Australia’s first capital-raising platform to accept both cryptocurrency and Australian dollars. “The successful WCA capital raise and IPO, paves the way for the future of capital markets in Australia”, said STAX CEO Kenny Lee.

Timeline of Tether