South Korea-based ICONLOOP, the founder of cryptocurrency technology ICON and crypto token ICX, is out to join the mainstream market by going public on Kosdaq market next year as the first Korean origin to attempt both ICO (initial coin offering) and IPO.

According to an investment banking industry source on Monday, ICONLOOP has recently selected Mirae Asset Daewoo Co. as its initial public offering (IPO) lead manager. It aims to debut on the tech-oriented Kosdaq as early as next year by capitalizing on the fast-track procedure that exempts companies with promising technologies from typical market formalities and guidelines in capital and income.

If the company passes technology review, it can apply for a preliminary review for IPO with the Korea Exchange.

A full due diligence and technology evaluation process for the company will kick off during the first half of this year, said a source familiar with the matter.

ICONLOOP incubated by DAYLI Financial Group was founded in May 2016 as a blockchain technology company led by computer scientists from Postech, a private research university focusing on science and technology in Korea. It is the developer of the world’s first blockchain-based authentication service `Chain ID` used by financial institutions and has conducted projects together with Seoul Metropolitan Government, National Election Commission and Kyobo Life Insurance among others. Loopchain, a technology to connect different blockchains separately developed by individual companies, is also a brainchild of ICONLOOP.

In the cryptocurrency market, the firm is well known as a developer of `ICON`. It raised money through an ICO in September 2017 and the cryptocurrency’s market cap of about $115 million, roughly 40th in the world market cap according to CoinMarketCap.

It is the only cryptocurrency in the top 50 list among the cryptocurrencies developed by Korean companies.

By Kang Woo-seok and Minu Kim

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