- Circle will trade under the ticker CRCL.
- The stablecoin issuer sold 34 million shares.
- USDC is the second-biggest stablecoin.
Circle has finally entered Wall Street’s orbit following its initial public offering on Wednesday.
The New York-based stablecoin issuer raised $1.05 billion from the sale of 34 million shares.
At $31 a share, Circle’s valuation ballooned to about $8 billion following an IPO that was upsized by almost 15% as demand jumped in a bullish cycle for stablecoins and crypto in general.
The company’s stock will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday under the ticker CRCL.
I am incredibly proud and thrilled to share that @circle is now a public company listed on the New York Stock Exchange under $CRCL!
— Jeremy Allaire - jda.eth / jdallaire.sol (@jerallaire) June 5, 2025
12 years ago we set out to build a company that could help remake the global economic system by re-imagining and re-building it from the ground up… pic.twitter.com/okcH0ys6Tc
For Circle, the IPO ends years of will-they-won’t-they speculation about the company’s future.
A previous $9 billion deal with Concord to take the company public was nixed in 2022 during a bearish period in the crypto market.
Whispers of a possible acquisition by Coinbase or Ripple also emerged this year, with the latter supposedly eyeing a $20 billion buyout of the stablecoin giant.
Charting its own course
But Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse denied the claims this week. Circle’s USDC stablecoin also has significant traction on Base, Coinbase’s Ethereum layer 2 network, which added to the intrigue.
With the IPO now complete, Circle is charting its own course with a whack of new capital.
Its USDC stablecoin is a major piece of crypto’s dollar-denominated plumbing and supplies liquidity for trading, lending, and several other yield-generating activities across DeFi.
As the No. 2 offering in the space, USDC sports $61 billion in circulation. Still, Tether’s USDT stablecoin is more than twice that size and is popular in Asian markets.
Now comes the hard part: life in the public market. Circle is the latest listed crypto firm and joins the likes of Coinbase, Marathon, and Riot Blockchain.
This means the company will have to file quarterly financial reports with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, comply with market rules, and most importantly, produce detailed audits of the reserves it manages to support USDC.
Embracing compliance
Under CEO Jeremy Allaire, Circle has been assiduous in complying with regulatory regimes in the European Union, as well as the US and other jurisdictions.
This contrasts with Tether, which has shunned this compliance approach and recently moved its headquarters to El Salvador.
This summer, the US Senate is expected to pass a landmark stablecoin bill that will establish the rules and regulations for issuers.
Given Circle’s strategy of embracing compliance, its timing for the IPO couldn’t be more dramatic.
Crypto market movers
- Bitcoin is up slightly by 0.4% over the past 24 hours and is at $105,545.
- Ethereum has traded flat over the same period to about $2,627.
What we’re reading
- JPMorgan to let borrowers use Bitcoin ETFs to back loans ― DL News
- Crypto Treasury Execs May Cash In as Stocks Soar, But Will Shareholders Be Cheated? ― Unchained
- PumpFun token launch incoming? — Milk Road
- Sonic Labs Opens S Token Airdrop to U.S. Residents ― Unchained
- Why Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ will trigger an ugly US default — and a role for Bitcoin ― DL News
Osato Avan-Nomayo is our Nigeria-based DeFi correspondent. He covers DeFi and tech. Got a tip? Please contact him at osato@dlnews.com.
