First Digital Group, the Hong Kong-based issuer of the FDUSD stablecoin, has signed a definitive enterprise mixture settlement with CSLM Digital Asset Acquisition Corp III (Nasdaq: KOYN), a particular goal acquisition firm. The deal values First Digital at $250 million on a pre-money fairness foundation and is predicted to lead to a Nasdaq-listed holding firm, integrated within the Cayman Islands, within the first half of 2027, topic to shareholder votes, SEC registration and regulatory clearances.
The firm reported roughly $87 million in income for the fiscal 12 months ended 30 June 2025. FDUSD, launched in 2023 with early adoption pushed by its integration on Binance, has recorded greater than $4.7 trillion in cumulative buying and selling quantity as of 30 June 2026 and reached a peak circulation above $4.4 billion in April 2024. Reserves are held in money equivalents and short-dated US Treasury payments by means of First Digital Trust Limited, with impartial month-to-month attestations.
The deal construction
Institutional traders have already bought $20 million of KOYN Class A bizarre shares at $10.60 per share from current KOYN holders. Separately, First Digital has signed a non-binding time period sheet with Millennial Trading for a $25 million convertible notice carrying a zero coupon and a $12.00 conversion value; the discharge cautions that definitive agreements might not be reached. The transaction comprises no minimal money situation. Upon closing, founder and chief govt Vincent Chok will maintain Class B bizarre shares carrying ten votes per share, preserving founder management over the listed entity.
Cohen & Company Capital Markets is appearing as capital markets and M&A adviser to First Digital. DLA Piper is serving as authorized counsel to First Digital, with Loeb & Loeb advising KOYN.
Vincent Chok mentioned: “The next thing is Finance District: which we believe provides the infrastructure that people and their AI agents will need as commerce becomes agentic. A Nasdaq listing would give us access to public capital markets, the transparency of a listed company, and shareholders who can participate in building it with us.”
Market and regulatory context
The SPAC route to a public itemizing stays out there however carries a blended current monitor report in digital belongings, with a number of earlier SPAC-led crypto and fintech listings subsequently buying and selling properly beneath their mixture valuations. The $250 million pre-money determine will face scrutiny in opposition to the $87 million income determine and the expansion trajectory of Finance District, which the corporate acknowledges doesn’t but contribute materials income.
The regulatory path can be materials. First Digital at the moment holds a Trust or Company Service Provider licence in Hong Kong and two Money Services Business registrations in Canada. It has a licence software pending with the Abu Dhabi Global Market for fiat-referenced token issuance and intends to search authorisations throughout Europe, the UAE, Southeast Asia, Latin America and the United States. The US stablecoin legislative panorama is actively growing, with the GENIUS Act and competing proposals transferring by means of Congress in 2026; the phrases beneath which a foreign-domiciled stablecoin issuer can function or checklist within the US will bear on First Digital’s business ambitions there. The SEC’s overview of the Form F-4 registration assertion will probably be a key near-term milestone.
First Digital can be pursuing South Korea as a strategic market, having signed memoranda of understanding with ITCEN Group subsidiary and KoFIU-registered Wavebridge to discover FDUSD distribution and settlement infrastructure. A Korean department workplace is deliberate for the primary quarter of 2027.
The firm’s Finance District ecosystem, which positions FDUSD as a settlement asset for AI-driven commerce, sits in a nascent phase. Third-party projections cited within the launch estimate world agentic consumer-to-business spend may attain $1.7 trillion by 2030, although these figures are sourced from the corporate’s personal investor supplies and carry the inherent uncertainty of early-stage market sizing.
AI degree 1 of 5: written by Darlyn Ho; AI helped with tone, construction or wording; edited and signed off by Mark Walker, Editorial Director. What the levels mean
