Bullish Pops 84% on First Day of Trading, Riding Crypto Hype

Bullish BLSH a Cayman Islands-based cryptocurrency exchange that caters to institutional investors, flew past its opening price on the NYSE in another stellar debut of the summer, closing out the day at $68 per share.

The closing day price, an 84% pop from its IPO pricing at $37 per share, brings Bullish’s fully diluted market cap to just under $10 billion.

The strong pop was especially remarkable given that Bullish allocated about 20% of its IPO offering to retail investors, about twice the typical amount—a decision that can tamp down in an IPO debut by reducing buying interest in the first few hours of trading.

Bullish reportedly made the decision in order to prevent the same stock price surge that Figma saw in its IPO earlier this month.

The crypto IPO market is gearing up for a long-awaited rebound: Bullish’s IPO comes off the back of Circle’s blockbuster listing, which has risen over 120% since its debut. Like Circle, Bullish had previously planned to go public via a special-purpose acquisition company in 2021 but called off the $9 billion planned merger in late 2022.

That decision is looking like a lucrative one, particularly for Bullish’s early investors, which include Pu Luo Chung VC, Alexander See and Galaxy Digital Ventures. Thiel Capital, which invested in Bullish’s $400 million round, owns less than 5% of shares.

Bullish’s strong debut comes in spite of its rocky financial performance: Bullish recorded a net loss of $348 million in Q1 2025, a huge swing from a $105 million quarterly profit a year earlier. Its net income of $79 million for the year ending Dec. 31, 2024, was also a dramatic decrease from last year’s $1.3 billion.

Its IPO performance, coinciding with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq closing record-breaking highs on Tuesday, will likely bring more cryptocurrency startups out of the woodwork and into the public markets.