Circle’s Supersized IPO Delivers Hotly Anticipated Windfall to Crypto Investors

Circle CRCL stock skyrocketed during the stablecoin issuer’s first day of trading on the New York Stock Exchange, closing at $82.84 a share, a 167% bump from its IPO price.

The crypto industry has closely watched Circle’s public debut, and the strong investor demand for the stock bodes well for the 2025-26 prospects of other companies. Sizable exits for later-stage crypto companies have been sparse for years, despite markedly improved spot market conditions.

Circle priced its IPO at $31 per share, above its target $27-$28 range, giving it a valuation of about $18 billion. Trading then opened at an eye-popping $69 a share, eliciting the usual complaints about IPO mispricing and concerns that the company left significant capital on the table.

Circle’s strong IPO shows investors are increasingly seeing utility in stablecoin integrations, according to Vishal Gupta, who formerly oversaw the firm’s USDC stablecoin and is now the CEO of crypto exchange True Markets. A number of US banks and financial institutions have partnered with stablecoin issuers, and startups underpinning stablecoin infrastructure have become even more attractive to VCs.

Circle’s IPO is also notable in that about 60% of the shares came from existing shareholders, suggesting a number of executives and VCs sought significant liquidity from the offering. Per its IPO filing, existing major shareholders include Accel, General Catalyst, Breyer Capital, IDG Capital, Oak Investment Partners, and Fidelity Investments.

Circle and those shareholders raised $1.05 billion in proceeds, trailing only Coinbase Global’s COIN 2021 debut. The sale was heavily oversubscribed, with one person familiar with the IPO pegging demand at 25 times or even 30 times the offering.

This closely watched IPO result comes as stablecoin momentum is building in the US and abroad, with a recent estimate of stablecoin global supply up to $239 billion.

Founded in 2013, Circle raised more than $1 billion in private markets prior to its listing, according to PitchBook data. The company’s initial product was a peer-to-peer payment app, with crypto infrastructure under the hood. In 2018, the firm began its pivot to stablecoins.

“The IPO gives Circle broad public recognition for the critical piece of crypto infrastructure they’ve built,” says CoinFund managing partner David Pakman, calling Circle the “most credible stablecoin in the world.” (Circle’s USDC trails rival Tether’s USDT by a wide margin in terms of market share.)

The vast majority of Circle’s revenue to date has come from its stablecoin business. The company reported $155.7 million in net income on $1.7 billion in revenue last year. In 2024, Circle derived $267.6 million in net income from $1.5 billion of revenue.

Circle previously planned to go public via an aborted SPAC deal in 2021, seeking a valuation of about $9 billion, then called it off a year later. Coinbase and Ripple had also previously engaged in talks about potentially acquiring the firm.

The company’s public debut comes before proposed stablecoin legislation in the United States crosses the finish line. The bills aim to establish standards for stablecoin issuers, including the requirement that all stablecoins must be backed 1:1 by an issuer with short-term liquid assets, like US Treasuries.