Stablecoin giant Circle targets $6.7 billion valuation in US IPO
Circle Internet said on Tuesday it was targeting a valuation of up to $6.71 billion on a fully diluted basis in its New York initial public offering, as the stablecoin giant looks to tap into growing optimism around cryptocurrency.
U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has embraced cryptocurrencies and pledged a more "rational" approach to digital asset regulations, encouraging companies from the industry to go public.
New York-based Circle and some existing investors are looking to raise up to $624 million by offering 24 million shares priced between $24 and $26 apiece.
Cathie Wood's ARK Investment Management has indicated its intention to buy up to $150 million shares of Circle in the IPO.
Circle is offering 9.6 million shares in the offering, while selling shareholders, including venture capital firms Accel and General Catalyst, are parting ways with 14.4 million shares.
Founded in 2013, Circle is the principal operator of stablecoin USDC, which has a market capitalization of over $60 billion, according to crypto market tracker CoinGecko.
Stablecoins are crypto tokens whose value is pegged to a stable asset to protect from wild volatility. In the case of the USDC, the value was pegged to the U.S. dollar.
Circle's flotation would be one of the biggest crypto listings since Coinbase Global's stock market debut in 2021.
Mike Novogratz's crypto investment company Galaxy Digital debuted on the Nasdaq earlier this month.
Circle had previously attempted to go public through a $9 billion blank-check deal with Bob Diamond-backed SPAC, but the deal fell apart in late 2022.
Circle, which has tapped 15 banks for the IPO, will list on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "CRCL".
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CNA
39 minutes ago
- CNA
Commentary: Why strongman politics will define US-China relations for now
SINGAPORE: During the Shangri-La Dialogue over the weekend, United States Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth alluded to America's war-fighting capabilities and characterised its foreign policy under Trump 2.0 as one of 'peace through strength'. This proclamation of strength is consistent with US President Donald Trump's approach to political relations since he took office. Soft power has been eschewed in place of a more muscular and transactional foreign policy. Interests - not ideology or values - would be the lens through which the US sees its relations with others. As Mr Hegseth himself put it: 'We are not here to pressure other countries to embrace or adopt our politics or ideology ... We respect you, your traditions and your militaries. And we want to work with you where our shared interests align.' PORTRAYING A STRONG AMERICA Indeed, we should not be surprised at this show of strength. During the US election campaigning last year, one of the key criticisms Mr Trump and the Republican Party had towards the Democrats was the weakness of then President Joe Biden's team. Mr Trump promised that under his watch, this would all change. Seen this way, the Trump administration's geopolitical manoeuvring stems from the belief that leaders of superpower states cannot afford to look weak - not least in front of their own people. Mr Trump's first show of might was to order a blanket tariff across American trading partners, using this as a tool to get other countries to acquiesce to US demands. His bet was that the US domestic market is too important to ignore and that countries worldwide would rather absorb the tariffs than risk losing access to American consumers. What is happening to US-China competition today is basically this: Both countries are overcompensating for years of engagement in which international cooperation have led to both having to make compromises domestically. From Washington's perspective, countries have gotten a free ride on its provision of public goods while Americans have not benefitted from US-led globalisation. As one foreign diplomat told me in a conversation during the SLD, the days of 'happy globalisation' is over. International relations have repercussions at home and domestic politics now frequently spill into foreign policy. According to the Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam, states are constantly engaged in a domestic-international interplay in their relations with each other whereby leaders must fulfil both international and domestic agendas. Ironically, Mr Trump has taken a leaf from the Chinese government playbook and its chief exponent of strongman politics - President Xi Jinping himself. XI'S PURSUIT OF NATIONAL SECURITY Beijing's priorities are strengthening national security and more importantly, ensuring the stability of the Chinese Communist Party. Since 2012, Mr Xi has gone on the offensive in his pursuit of domestic security while significantly limiting the ability of foreign forces to influence China. From political purges to corruption witch hunts, censorship of information deemed unfavourable to Beijing and wolf warrior diplomacy, Mr Xi hopes to project the face of a strong and uncompromising Chinese state. This is not unexpected given the perception that party discipline was lax under the policies of his predecessor Hu Jintao and those in power were mostly interested in individual pursuit of wealth and power without a broader commitment to the country's well-being. As described by journalist Wong Chun Han in his book Party Of One, Mr Xi is motivated primarily by 'historical grievances and a sense of civilisational destiny' and that his China is 'brash but brittle, intrepid yet insecure ... a would-be superpower in a hurry, eager to take on the world while wary of what may come'. This was mostly acutely seen in China's response to the Trump tariffs. Beijing refused to concede an inch when slapped with a 125 per cent 'reciprocal' tariff, and in turn raised levies on US imports and placed restrictions on American movies. Beijing's bet was American companies and industries could not stomach the short-term pain of financial losses as a result of restricted access to Chinese markets. Both countries were proven right: The temperature was eventually dialled down as both Washington and Beijing rolled back their tariff policies. However, it seems that the Trump administration is now opening a new front in its battle with China in the field of education, as seen by its ban on visas given to Chinese students. It remains to be seen how Beijing will respond. THE ROAD FORWARD While the possibility of a grand deal between Washington and Beijing looks even more remote than ever, this hostile climate may not be lasting. As folks in international relations would say, 'There are no permanent friends, only permanent interests'. Both Mr Trump and Mr Xi are overcompensating for what they view as years of benign neglect by their predecessors on the domestic front. At some point, their policies would hurt their countries' bottom lines. For instance, the Trump administration's visa curbs on institutions of higher educations will compromise American ability to attract talent from all over the world. Meanwhile, China would find it increasingly more challenging to gain trust abroad - even among those who are non-allied with the US. Given that both Mr Trump and Mr Xi cannot afford to look weak in front of their people, strongman politics will likely define the contours of US-China relations in the next few years.
CNA
39 minutes ago
- CNA
Commentary: The world's strongest currency is also super-competitive
NEW YORK: Amid all the talk about whether the US is keen to devalue the mighty dollar as one way to revive American manufacturing, it is worth noting that the dollar is not the world's strongest currency and has not been for decades. That title goes to the Swiss franc, and the mighty franc has done nothing to undermine Switzerland's competitiveness. The world's richest major economy has both a strong currency and a strong manufacturing base. The Swiss franc has been the top-performing currency over the past 50 years, 25 years, 10 years and five years. It is near the top even over the past year when some of the more beleaguered currencies have staged a comeback against the dollar. Nothing can compare for durable strength. Yet Switzerland also defies the assumption that a strong currency will undermine a nation's trading prowess by making its exports uncompetitive. Its exports have risen and are near historic highs both as a share of Swiss GDP (75 per cent), and as a share of global exports (near 2 per cent). The global conversation has become unduly obsessed with currency valuations, which are just one of the factors that shape a nation's competitive position. Like Germany and Japan in their heydays, Switzerland has gained a reputation for goods and services of such high quality that the rest of the world is willing to pay a currency premium for the 'Made in Switzerland' label. DIVERSE AND DYNAMIC GOODS For more than a decade, it has dominated a UN ranking of the most innovative economies, both for the resources it puts into innovation – for example through practical university education and research and development – and for its returns on these investments. It generates more than US$100 in GDP per hour worked – that's more productive than any of the other 20 largest economies. Its decentralised political and economic system encourages the rise of small enterprises, which account for over 99 per cent of Swiss companies. It also has a large share of globally competitive businesses in sectors from pharmaceuticals to luxury goods. Harvard's Growth Lab ranks Switzerland number one among major economies for the 'complexity' of its exports, a measure of the advanced skills needed to produce them. And its exports range from chocolates and watches to medicines and chemicals – belying the notion that strong currencies kill factories. At 18 per cent of GDP, its manufacturing sector is one of the largest among developed economies. Over half its exports are 'high-tech' – more than double the US level. Since advanced goods are more expensive, this has helped Switzerland keep its current account in surplus, averaging more than 4 per cent of GDP since the early 1980s. Income from trade is recycled into significant investments abroad. The country now runs a net international investment surplus of more than 100 per cent of GDP, which helps it resist external shocks. If Switzerland has a weakness, it is a huge run up in private debt as a share of GDP. Yet unlike the US and many other European countries, it does not have a large population of zombie companies – which earn too little to pay even the interest on their debts. HOW TO STAY COMPETITIVE Quietly, the Swiss have built an all-weather economy. The franc has appreciated steadily whether the dollar was rising or falling, and whether the global economy was in recession or recovery. They just seem to understand how to stay competitive. In 2015, the franc surged on a shift in central bank policy and manufacturers responded by moving even more sharply to sophisticated exports, which are less sensitive to currency shifts. Many policymakers think the East Asian 'miracles' devalued their way to prosperity. Undervalued exchange rates did help countries from South Korea to China grow their manufacturing export bases rapidly. But other factors including infrastructure investments and opening to foreign capital played a bigger role. Meanwhile, the importance of exchange rate valuations faded as they moved up the development curve. Developed economies need to compete more on quality than on price. For them, devaluation can backfire by encouraging domestic producers to focus on making cheaper goods.
CNA
43 minutes ago
- CNA
Wall Street closes with modest gains, dollar weakens as trade tensions flare
NEW YORK :Wall Street ended a choppy session higher on Monday and the dollar softened as trade tensions between Washington and Beijing heated up and investors showed caution ahead of U.S. employment data and a widely expected policy rate cut from the European Central Bank. The S&P 500 notched a modest advance, while tech boosted the Nasdaq to a more substantial gain. The blue-chip Dow ended the session barely in positive territory. The greenback, under pressure amid revived trade strife, weakened as benchmark U.S. Treasury yields ticked higher. Souring risk appetite boosted gold to more than a three-week high against the weakening greenback. On Sunday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said President Donald Trump would speak soon with Chinese President Xi Jinping to iron out tensions over a mutually agreed-upon rollback of tariffs on critical minerals after Trump accused Beijing of violating that agreement. Beijing called Trump's accusation "groundless," and vowed to take forceful measures to protect its interests. "Investors and businesses continue to face a lot of uncertainty related to rate tariffs and fiscal policy, and how monetary policy will respond," said Bill Merz, head of capital market research at U.S. Bank Wealth Management, Minneapolis. "Today's market is about expectations and uncertainties and the degree to which these uncertainties become self-fulfilling," Merz added. "We haven't seen that yet, but that's what we need to watch for." A report from the Institute for Supply Management showed the U.S. manufacturing sector contracted at a steeper-than-expected pace in May, while construction expenditures defied consensus by falling in April. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 35.41 points, or 0.08 per cent, to 42,305.48, the S&P 500 rose 24.25 points, or 0.41 per cent, to 5,935.94 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 128.85 points, or 0.67 per cent, to 19,242.61. European stocks closed lower amid rekindled trade tensions after Trump's announcement late on Friday that he intends to double tariffs on imported steel and aluminum to 50 per cent, starting Wednesday. The move drew promises of retaliation from the European Union and sent shares of steel exporters lower. Geopolitical tensions flared as the Ukraine-Russia conflict intensified over the weekend. Polish stocks fell 0.6 per cent in the wake of nationalist opposition candidate Karol Nawrocki's election victory. MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe rose 3.38 points, or 0.38 per cent, to 882.88. The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 0.14 per cent, while Europe's broad FTSEurofirst 300 index fell 3.06 points, or 0.14 per cent Emerging market stocks fell 3.70 points, or 0.32 per cent, to 1,153.64. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan closed lower by 0.26 per cent, to 607.38, while Japan's Nikkei fell 494.43 points, or 1.30 per cent, to 37,470.67. The dollar lost ground against other major currencies, backing down from the previous week's gains as markets assessed the outlook for Trump's unpredictable trade policy and its potential for dampening growth and fuelling inflation. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, fell 0.69 per cent to 98.67, with the euro up 0.85 per cent at $1.1444. Against the Japanese yen, the dollar weakened 0.93 per cent to142.7. Longer-dated U.S. Treasury yields were mostly higher in the wake of Trump's tariff announcement, but yields slightly pared gains after the manufacturing data. The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes rose 3.2 basis points to 4.45 per cent, from 4.418 per cent late on Friday. The 30-year bond yield rose 4.6 basis points to 4.9779 per cent from 4.932 per cent late on Friday. The 2-year note yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations for the Federal Reserve, rose 2.5 basis points to 3.939 per cent, from 3.914 per cent late on Friday. Crude oil prices surged after OPEC+ held July output increases at the same level as the previous two months, while wildfires in Canada's oil-producing province threatened supply. U.S. crude rose 2.85 per cent to settle at $62.52 per barrel, while Brent settled at $64.63 per barrel, up 2.95 per cent on the day. Gold prices touched a one-week high as elevated caution attracted investors to the safe-haven metal. Spot gold rose 2.77 per cent to $3,380.41 an ounce. U.S. gold futures rose 2.74 per cent to $3,379.00 an ounce. Copper rose 1.23 per cent to $9,615.00 a tonne. Three-month aluminum on the London Metal Exchange rose 1.23 per cent to $2,474.15 a tonne.
