AptNeuroScience Aims to Become Cryptocurrency Investment Firm Through U.S. Subsidiary

On June 19, AptNeuroScience, a subsidiary of the domestic biopharmaceutical company Aprogen, announced that it has completed the process of changing the name of its U.S. subsidiary from Global Lithium Corporation to APTELOS Inc. and has also changed its business purpose to "direct investment in cryptocurrency and related financial services."

APTELOS Inc., which is 100% owned by AptNeuroScience, is based in California and is led by CEO Baek Sangjun. According to AptNeuroScience, the U.S. entity plans to begin purchasing cryptocurrencies with its current cash holdings of $12 million and will actively seek to increase its cryptocurrency holdings by securing large-scale funds both domestically and internationally.

AptNeuroScience plans to establish a new "Cryptocurrency Treasury Division" at the headquarters level and incorporate the U.S. subsidiary under this division. Currently, domestic legal entities are not permitted to open real-name accounts for cryptocurrency trading, making it impossible for them to directly trade cryptocurrencies. Starting in September, some institutional investors with risk-bearing capacity will be "temporarily allowed" to open real-name accounts for investment and financial trading purposes, but significant restrictions on large-scale investments are expected to remain in place for some time.

AptNeuroScience intends to overcome these limitations through its U.S. subsidiary. Utilizing the U.S. entity makes it easier to buy or sell cryptocurrencies on a large scale, receive debt repayments or dividends in cryptocurrency from the U.S. entity, or directly acquire cryptocurrency assets through asset transfers from the U.S. entity. The company also plans to expand not only into simple cryptocurrency holdings but also into cryptocurrency-linked or derivative businesses.

Currently, there are over 120 publicly listed companies worldwide that are strategically accumulating Bitcoin, and this number is rapidly increasing. In the United States, representative companies include Strategy, BlackRock, and Trump Media & Technology Group Corporation. In Japan, Metaplanet is a representative company.

Strategy, which was previously an enterprise software company, began aggressively purchasing Bitcoin under the leadership of Chairman Michael Saylor in 2020 and now holds approximately 580,000 Bitcoins. As a result, the company's stock price has soared by more than 2,500% over the past five years. BlackRock, the world's largest asset management firm, announced that as of June 10, it holds 662,500 Bitcoins?over 3% of the total Bitcoin supply?through its iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT). Trump Media & Technology Group is a family company of U.S. President Donald Trump.

An AptNeuroScience representative stated, "It is certain that the value of Bitcoin and other virtual assets will continue to rise due to their scarcity," and added, "Therefore, holding virtual assets and expanding into derivative businesses utilizing them will be a key strategy for rapid and stable corporate value growth."

He went on to say, "Going forward, AptNeuroScience will support the U.S. subsidiary's virtual asset investments and actively pursue related businesses, aiming to develop the 'Cryptocurrency Treasury Division' into one of the company's main growth engines alongside the existing 'Renewable Energy Division' and 'Neurodegenerative Disease Therapeutics Division.'"