Exodus Bets ₱10.75 billion ($175 million) on Cards After NYSE Blocked Listing

Exodus had 130 employees, friends, and family fly to Manhattan for its planned NYSE listing in May 2024. Regulators pulled the approval the night before.

Co-founder and CEO JP Richardson said the company absorbed that shock and pivoted. Exodus acquired W3C Corp, the parent of UK card processors Monavate and Baanx, for roughly ₱10.75 billion ($175 million). The deal came with a secured loan of ₱4.3 billion ($70 million) enforced against W3C Corp through UK receivership. Richardson described it as a shift from "renting the rails to owning them."

The combined infrastructure gives Exodus direct membership with Visa and MasterCard. CFO James Gernetzke explained how a £100 purchase now flows through six layers Exodus controls: wallet, swap engine, stablecoin issuance, card programs, banking rails, and one additional layer. Gernetzke said that gives Exodus "owner economics on each step of a transaction" through interchange fees, processing fees, and interest on float.

But the limits showed up fast. Revenue hit ₱7.47 billion ($121.6 million) in 2025, the company's peak year, with 1.5 to 1.6 million monthly active users. By Q1 2026, revenue fell 37% year-over-year to ₱1.39 billion ($22.7 million), down from $36 million in Q1 2025. The company posted a $36.4 million net loss on digital assets in the same quarter. Exchange volume dropped 22% quarter-over-quarter to $1.18 billion.

Richardson argued crypto still fails the "pub test" for normal users who need napkins to write down seed phrases safely. He pitched "one app for money" consolidating banking, payments, and crypto under user control. Gernetzke said the tight link between trading revenue and Bitcoin price is a "ceiling the company needs to break."

Exodus finally listed on NYSE American in January 2026 under a new administration, with 1.4 million funded users in Q1 2026.