Circle, one of the world's largest issuers of USDC, is a stubcoin pinned to US dollars, ending its first trading day as a public company at $83.23 per share.
The IPO POP shows national investors' interest in cryptocurrencies and ridiculous currencies, particularly amid the Trump administration's supportive stance on cryptocurrencies.
A massive surge in Circle's first-day trading could encourage institutional investors to raise IPO prices on future lists. The imminent IPOs include Omada Health, which is priced Thursday, and Klarna, a fintech that is scheduled to list next week.
The company, which sold its shares, set its initial market value at $6.1 billion. This is the circle's last private market valuation of $7.7 billion, set in April 2021, when it raised a $400 million Series F in April 2021.
But the big pop cleans it up and then some. The circle's market capitalization (excluding employee options) was $16.7 billion by the end of the transaction. The company has raised about $1.1 billion.
Circle is on the growth list of companies whose IPOs are below the private market highs. These include HealthTech Hinge, contractor platform ServiceTitan, and the recent “downround” offerings from social network Reddit. So it won't discourage startups looking for signs that this is the right time to be published.
Circle's successful IPO comes three years after Circle attempts to publish it previously. The Stablecoin publisher had plans to combine it with SPAC in 2022 at a $9 billion valuation.
The company's largest external shareholder is the general catalyst, which is IDG Capital, which held approximately 8.9% of all shares prior to the offering and owned 8.8% of all shares. According to S1, other key venture investors include Accel, Breyer Capital and Oak Investment Partners.