By Arasu Kannagi Basil
(Reuters) -Circle Internet’s shares surged to open at more than double above their offer price on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday, in what is the second-largest listing by a crypto company.
The stock opened for trading at $69 apiece, valuing the stablecoin issuer at nearly $18 billion, on a fully-diluted basis. That compared with its IPO price of $31.
The successful flotation is likely to encourage other crypto IPO hopefuls eyeing public markets. Surging interest in digital assets amid rising token prices and supportive regulatory developments is expected to spur more listings from the industry.
“The more crypto companies that go public, the easier it will be for future crypto companies,” said Matt Kennedy, senior strategist at Renaissance Capital, a provider of IPO-focused research and ETFs.
“The number of deals is important, but so is the variety – having publicly-traded companies across the crypto ecosystem,”
The outlook for the digital asset industry has also brightened with the Trump administration adopting a lighter regulatory touch and moving to establish a crypto-friendly environment.
In recent months, a growing number of companies have also added cryptocurrencies to their balance sheets to capitalize on rising token prices.
Circle’s flotation is the biggest crypto listing since Coinbase’s 2021 debut and the first major IPO by a stablecoin issuer. It had earlier attempted to go public through a $9 billion blank-check deal, but the deal fell apart in 2022.
MAINSTREAM ADOPTION
Circle’s IPO is also a landmark moment for the stablecoin market, which has been a hot topic since the Trump administration took office.
The passage of the pending stablecoin bill could further accelerate the adoption of the digital tokens and make them more mainstream.
Apart from being used to trade cryptocurrencies, stablecoins are also increasingly used as a form of digital payment.
Wall Street expects stablecoins to become one of the biggest themes within finance in the coming years and the next multi-trillion-dollar market opportunity.
Founded in 2013 by Jeremy Allaire and Sean Neville, Circle issues the dollar-denominated USDC, the world’s second-largest stablecoin by market cap after Tether. Besides USDC, Circle also issues the euro-denominated stablecoin EURC.
Allaire, 53, has led Circle since its inception. He previously served as the co-founder and CEO of streaming technology company Brightcove.
(Reporting by Arasu Kannagi Basil in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva, Shilpi Majumdar and Shounak Dasgupta)
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