The LSE Directory / Crypto exchanges
Bullish operates a regulated digital asset exchange for spot and derivatives trading, built around a hybrid model that pairs an automated market maker (AMM) with a traditional central limit order book (CLOB). The design combines the continuous liquidity of an AMM with the price discovery and order types of a conventional order book, and the platform is aimed at institutional and professional traders rather than retail users. The exchange differentiates itself through its regulatory footprint and institutional focus. It holds licenses or registrations with Germany's BaFin, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, and the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission, and in the United States its subsidiary operates as a licensed money transmitter and registered Money Services Business under the New York State Department of Financial Services. Rather than competing on retail-facing features, Bullish positions itself as compliant market infrastructure for banks, market makers, and other institutional counterparties trading digital assets. Bullish was launched in 2021 as a subsidiary of Block.one, the company behind the EOS blockchain, founded by Brendan Blumer. At launch it was capitalized with more than $10 billion in cash and digital assets, including a $100 million cash injection, 164,000 bitcoin, and 20 million EOS tokens from Block.one, plus an additional $300 million investment round from backers including Peter Thiel's Thiel Capital and Founders Fund, Alan Howard, Louis Bacon, Richard Li, Christian Angermayer, Galaxy Digital, and Nomura. Tom Farley, a former president of the New York Stock Exchange, serves as chair and chief executive. In November 2023, Bullish acquired the crypto news and data publisher CoinDesk for roughly $75 million. In August 2025, Bullish went public on the NYSE under the ticker BLSH, pricing its IPO at $37 per share and raising about $1.1 billion. In May 2026, Bullish announced a definitive agreement to acquire Equiniti, a global share registrar and transfer agent, from Siris Capital Group in a $4.2 billion transaction combining roughly $2.35 billion in Bullish stock and $1.85 billion of assumed Equiniti debt. Equiniti serves close to 3,000 issuer clients and about 20 million shareholders and processes roughly $500 billion in annual payments; the deal is framed by both companies as building an integrated, blockchain-enabled transfer agent for tokenized securities, with closing expected in January 2027.
