HashKey Targets Hong Kong IPO as Institutional ETH Demand Rises Amid High Cash Burn
HashKey, one of Asia’s largest regulated crypto exchanges, plans to raise up to HK$1.67 billion ($215 million) in a Hong Kong IPO, according to its prospectus. The filing highlights strong institutional activity, expanding staking and tokenization services, and a user base exceeding 1.44 million accounts.
The company also disclosed significant losses. HashKey reported over HK$3.0 billion ($386 million) in cumulative losses from 2022 through mid-2025, reflecting heavy investment in custody, compliance, and on-chain infrastructure. In the first half of 2025, the exchange lost HK$506.7 million and averaged HK$40.9 million in monthly cash burn during Q3.
HashKey emphasizes that its regulated structure offers leverage: major costs such as licensing, custody, and risk infrastructure scale more slowly than revenues from trading, staking, and management fees, potentially improving margins as adoption grows. Registered users jumped from fewer than 200 in 2022 to 1.44 million today.
The filing notes a shift in focus: retail trading fell in early 2025, while institutional flows remained resilient. HashKey Global, its Bermuda-registered retail platform, was scaled back due to limited fiat on- and off-ramps. The company is concentrating on its onshore platform, which supports licensed fiat channels, ETF flows, and traditional financial institutions.
With cash, digital assets, and expected IPO proceeds, HashKey estimates more than 70 months of liquidity under conservative assumptions.
HashKey competes directly with Bullish, parent company of CoinDesk.
