Stablecoin bigwig Circle soars in debut on the New York Stock Exchange
The US-based issuer of one of the most popular cryptocurrencies made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday and quickly saw its value soar amid heavy interest from crypto enthusiasts and investors.
Circle Internet Group issues USDC, a stablecoin that can be traded at a 1-to-1 ratio for US dollars, and EURC, which can similarly be traded for euros.
Stablecoins are a fast-growing corner of the cryptocurrency industry that offer a buffer against volatility because they are pegged to real-world assets, like US dollars or gold. That makes them a much more reliable means of conducting commercial transactions than other forms of crypto. Interest in Circle's initial public offering is high. The company's underwriters priced the offering at $31 per share Wednesday, up from an expected range of $27 to $28. The number of shares being sold was raised to 34 million from 32 million. Circle is listed on the NYSE under the symbol "CRCL." The stock price soared above $96 at one point Thursday afternoon and landed at $83.23 by closing. Circle's initial public offering is one of the biggest public listings for a crypto-related company since the exchange Coinbase went public in 2021.
The dominant player in the stablecoin field is El Salvador-based Tether, which has the stablecoin known as USDT that currently has about $150 billion in circulation. USDC is the second most popular stablecoin market cap, with about $60 billion in circulation.
Circle said in a regulatory filing that USDC has been used for more than "$25 trillion in onchain transactions" since its launch in 2018. Revenue-wise the company has seen tremendous growth, going from just $15 million in 2020 to $1.7 billion in 2024. Stablecoin issuers make profits by collecting the interest on the assets they hold in reserve to back their stablecoins. Circle said USDC is backed by "cash, short-dated US Treasuries and overnight US Treasury repurchase agreements with leading global banks."
Circle's IPO comes amid a push by the Trump administration and the crypto industry to pass legislation that would regulate how stablecoin issuers operate in the US A Senate bill advanced last month with bipartisan support. There is also growing competition in the stablecoin field. A crypto enterprise partly owned by the Trump family just launched its own stablecoin, USD1. Circle said its long track record and values - the company says its mission statement is "to raise global economic prosperity through the frictionless exchange of value" - will help it stand apart in the field.
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