Ether Capital Shares Commence Trading on NEO Canadian Stock Exchange

Ether Capital which is the stock of cryptocurrency investment firm has commenced trading on Toronto-based NEO Exchange. The listing comes days after the company completed its previously announced “reverse takeover transaction” that saw the company rebrand from Ethereum Capital.

Ether Capital’s stock began trading on Toronto’s NEO Exchange on Thursday. The company’s ETHC shares are as at the time of writing opened at $2.20 and is currently trading at $2.50 USD.

Ben Roberts who is the company’s chief information officer, reported that the company raised $45 million CAD – falling 10 percent short of the company’s expectations. Ether Capital had originally sought to issue 20 million shares priced at $2.50 each, however, was only able to sell 18 million shares. The private offer was co-directed by CIBC Capital Markets and Canaccord Genuity Corp.

Mr. Roberts indicated that Ether Capital plans to convert approximately 90 percent of the raised funds into ETH tokens. Mr. Roberts did not disclose how many tokens had already been purchased with the newly raised capital. According to a January press release, Ether Capital indicated that it also plans on using a portion of the funds to obtain “controlling stakes in Ethereum-based businesses.”

Som Seif, the executive chairman and co-chief investment officer of the company, has stated that “The completion of this transaction and commencement of public trading represents a critical step in Ether Capital’s mission.” Mr. Seif added that the company is “excited to provide investors with the opportunity to invest in the first publicly listed company focused solely on the Ethereum ecosystem and to help drive industry-shifting disruptive technologies.”

In contrast with the challenges encountered by many firms seeking to operate in the cryptocurrency industry, Mr. Roberts describes the process involved in setting up Ether Capital as having been relatively simple, stating “the first step was talking to the Ontario Securities Commission and getting their blessing, then talking to banks and getting them comfortable and setting up a custody solution to house the asset safely.”

Mr. Roberts indicated in his expectation that it will ‘take the market some time to really understand the value proposition’ of Ether Capital. “The utility of that is two-fold, yes it gives people exposure in the marketplace and more importantly creating that pool of assets gives us space in the community and the ethereum platform. As we kind of scale that out we can have an opportunity to become something like ConsenSys, which is a large organized stakeholder in ethereum which can then use its platform to create value,” Mr. Roberts stated.