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 (€27.12) per share Wednesday, up from an expected range of $27 to $28. The number of shares being sold was raised to 34m from 32m. 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 $150bn in circulation.
USDC is the second most popular stablecoin market cap, with about $60bn in circulation.
Circle said in a regulatory filing that USDC has been used for more than '$25tn in onchain transactions' since its launch in 2018.
Revenue-wise the company has seen tremendous growth, going from just $15m in 2020 to $1.7bn 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.
In three hours on Thursday, shares in Elon Musk's electric vehicle company plunged by more than 14% in a stunning wipeout, as investors dumped their holdings amid a bitter war of words between the president and the world's richest man.
By the end of the trading day, $150 billion (€139bn) of Tesla's market value had been erased — more than what it would take to buy all the shares of Starbucks and hundreds of other big publicly traded US companies.
The disagreement started over the president's budget bill, then quickly turned nasty after Musk said that Trump wouldn't have been elected without his help. Trump then implied that he may turn the federal government against Musk's companies, including Tesla and SpaceX.
'The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon's Governmental Subsidies and Contracts,' Trump wrote on his social messaging service Truth Social. 'I was always surprised that Biden didn't do it!'
The drop on Thursday partially reversed a big run-up in the eight weeks since Musk confirmed that Tesla would be testing an autonomous, driverless 'robotaxi' service in Austin, Texas, this month.
Investors fear Trump might not be in such a rush to usher in a future of self-driving cars in the US, and that could hit Tesla.
'The whole goal of robotaxis is to have them in 20 or 25 cities next year," Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives, said. "If you start to heighten the regulatory environment, that could delay that path.'
He added that there's a fear Trump is not going to play 'Mr Nice Guy' anymore.
However, Trump's threat to cut government contracts could be aimed more at another of Musk's businesses, SpaceX. The privately held rocket company has received billions of dollars for sending astronauts and cargo to the International Space Station, providing launches and doing other work for NASA. The company is currently racing to develop a mega-rocket for the space agency to send astronauts to the Moon next year.
A subsidiary of SpaceX, the satellite internet company Starlink, appears to also have benefited from Musk's once-close relationship with the president.
On a trip with Trump to the Middle East last month, Musk announced that Saudi Arabia had approved Starlink for aviation and maritime use. Though its not clear how much politics has played a role, a string of other recent deals in Bangladesh, Pakistan, India and elsewhere has followed, as Trump has threatened tariffs and sent diplomats scrambling to please the president.
One measure of SpaceX's success: A private financing round followed by a private sale of shares in recent months reportedly valued it at $350 billion (around €325bn), up from an estimated $210 billion (about €195.3bn) a year ago.
Now all that is possibly in danger. Tesla shares got an even bigger lift from Musk's close relationship with Trump, initially at least.
After the presidential election in November, investors rushed into the stock, adding more than $450 billion (€418.5bn) to its value in a few weeks. The belief was that the company would see big gains as Trump eased regulatory oversight of Tesla. They also bet that the new administration would embrace Musk's plans for millions of cars on US roads without drivers behind the wheel.
After hitting an all-time high on 17 December, the shares retreated as Musk's time as head of a government cost-cutting group led to boycotts and a hit to Tesla's reputation. They've recently popped higher again after Musk vowed to focus more on Tesla and its upcoming driverless taxi launch.
Now investors aren't so sure, a worry that has translated into big paper losses in Tesla stock held by Musk personally.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fashion Network
40 minutes ago
- Fashion Network
Casablanca opens first Paris store, plans spaces in LA, London, and skiwear line
Casablanca has taken a step it describes as 'decisive' by opening its first brick-and-mortar store. The French label, launched in 2018 by French-Moroccan designer Charaf Tajer, has set up shop in Paris, where it has been showing since January 2019, and where it has managed to establish itself as one of the up-and-coming names in ready-to-wear. Casablanca's first store is located in the French capital's luxury shopping district, on rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré. Casablanca has opened its flagship almost at one end of the prestigious thoroughfare, at number 62, on the corner with rue d'Aguesseau. The premises extend over nearly 460 square metres on three levels, and were previously home to an art gallery. The interiors are the brainchild of designer Charaf Tajer and the label's creative director Steve Grimes, working in collaboration with London-based design agency Counterfeit Studio and Moroccan architecture studio Elements Lab. The décor reflects 'a fusion between the past and the future, between Parisian elegance, cinema references and a bold, forward-looking vision,' said Casablanca in a press release. Originally, Casablanca focused on menswear, and made a name for itself with uber-chic looks featuring vibrant prints and fine fabrics, borrowing both from the sporting world, notably tennis, and from retro glamour. Soon the label added women's ready-to-wear, broadening its assortment by introducing a range of accessories, including leather goods, footwear and sneakers, scarves, socks and hats. The label's Parisian store showcases all these categories, spread out across each level within Casablanca's various collections. The atmosphere inside the store is decidedly cheerful and warm, with an almost pop-art feel. The furnishings are characterised by rounded and geometric shapes and by Casablanca's signature sunny palette — red, green and Mediterranean blue. The décor combines different styles and materials, using various types of marble, metal, lacquered wood, walls in white wood and others with mouldings and arched niches, velvet, mosaic, and metal and glass tinted in multiple shades for the display cabinets. After Paris, Casablanca will open in July in Los Angeles, at 469 North Canon Drive, Beverly Hills. The label, which has dropped several collaborations in recent years, with Bulgari, Caviar Kaspia, ST Dupont and Nordstrom among others, is distributed via its e-shop and 350 multibrand retailers worldwide. It has recently opened shop-in-shops at Harvey Nichols and Bloomingdale's in Dubai, and at KaDeWe in Berlin, and further shop-in-shops are on the cards in London, at Selfridges in September and Harrods in November. Casablanca also operates seasonal pop-up stores, like the space open for two months at Le Bon Marché in Paris, decked out like a beach club. This season, the label has established a presence also at the Mandarin Oriental in Bodrum (Turkey), and will open temporary stores at Tahiti Beach on the French Riviera in July, at the Fashion Clinic Comporta store in Cavalhal, Portugal, in August, and at the Atlantis The Royal hotel in Dubai, in partnership with the Ounass e-shop. Another project Casablanca is busy on is the autumn launch of a first skiwear capsule collection, produced in partnership with Swiss brand Faction Skis. It will be presented in November via pop-up spaces at Harrods in London and Galeries Lafayette Haussmann in Paris, as well as in top Alpine resorts such as Verbier and Gstaad in Switzerland. Casablanca is backed by an investor and has moved its headquarters to London. In 2024, it generated a revenue of €45 million, and is expecting to reach €60 million for 2025, growing by more than 30%. Casablanca has been led since 2023 by Frederick Lukoff, and employs 140 people. The label has been posting double-digit annual growth on a regular basis. Sales for its e-shop have notably soared, recording a triple-digit rise this year. With this first Paris opening, Tajer is relishing Casablanca's success. 'When my parents arrived in France, my mother was working as a housekeeper, so me setting up a fashion house was the last thing that could be expected. Then, five or six years ago, I said: 'I want a corner in this street', and everyone told me it was impossible, because all the locations were taken by the top labels. Opening this store is a huge achievement for us: It feels like coming home.'
France 24
an hour ago
- France 24
From allies to enemies: the cost of a Musk-Trump split
Here is a look at his affairs as their White House partnership turns toxic, with billions of dollars in market value and government contracts hanging in the balance. Tesla The Tesla car company is the cornerstone of Musk's business empire and has suffered considerably since the entrepreneur dove into politics. The electric vehicle giant's stock has plummeted more than 20 percent since the start of the year, reflecting investor anxiety about Musk's increasingly polarizing public persona. The damage reached a fever pitch on Thursday when the Musk-Trump feud erupted out in the open. In a matter of hours, Tesla shed more than $150 billion in market capitalization, wiping $34 billion from Musk's personal fortune. The alliance with Trump was supposed to have been Tesla's golden ticket, even if the administration was going to scrap tax credits that had helped it become an automobile juggernaut. More importantly, Musk could count on Trump's blessing for his ultimate vision: putting fully autonomous vehicles on American roads. This ambition has been stymied by government regulation over the years, with authorities slowing efforts due to worries that the technology is not ready to hit the road at mass scale. The Trump administration was expected to lift these regulatory constraints -- a promise now in serious jeopardy. "Musk needs Trump because of the regulatory environment, and you can't have Trump go from friend to foe," said analyst Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities. The administration also regulates vehicle design and would influence the mass production of robotaxis that Musk intends to launch in a pilot program in Austin, Texas, this month. Musk's hard-right political pivot has alienated the very customers Tesla needs most: environmentally conscious and liberal-leaning buyers who once saw the brand as aligned with their values. Some drivers have resorted to bumper stickers declaring their cars were purchased "before Elon went crazy." The damage is showing up in sales figures. In Europe, while overall electric vehicle sales climbed, Tesla's market share crashed 50 percent in April as attention focused on Musk's political activities and the company's aging product lineup. A recent Morgan Stanley survey said 85 percent of investors believe Musk's political involvement is actively harming Tesla's business. SpaceX A prolonged battle with Trump poses existential risks for SpaceX, Musk's space exploration company that has become NASA's most critical partner. SpaceX and NASA are deeply interdependent. SpaceX depends on government contracts worth tens of billions of dollars, while NASA relies on SpaceX for everything from astronaut transportation to satellite deployment. SpaceX's portfolio includes some of the most sensitive national security projects: launching astronauts to the International Space Station, building spy satellites and operating the Starlink satellite network. The financial windfall has been enormous, with a December share sale valuing SpaceX at $350 billion -- $140 billion more than just six months earlier, largely due to anticipated government largesse under Trump. In the heat of the clash on Thursday, Trump threatened to cut off all government contracts, while Musk said he would mothball the Dragon spacecraft, which is vital for ferrying astronauts to and from the International Space Station -- though he later walked back this threat. xAI Musk has huge plans for his xAI artificial intelligence company. He's angling to compete with OpenAI, the ChatGPT-maker that was co-founded by Musk a decade ago and is now steered by his archrival Sam Altman. Altman has his own inroads to the White House, where he signed a massive AI infrastructure initiative called the Stargate Project, which recently expanded to Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi. Initially dismissing Stargate as unrealistic, Musk later worked behind the scenes to undermine the project, reportedly telling investors that Trump wouldn't approve any expansion that excluded xAI. Adding another layer of complexity, Musk folded X (formerly Twitter) into xAI earlier this year. Musk's $44 billion acquisition in 2022 transformed the site into the go-to platform for conservatives, but Trump himself remains an infrequent user, preferring his own Truth Social platform for communication.
France 24
3 hours ago
- France 24
Trump says fresh US-China trade talks in London next week
The talks in the British capital on Monday will mark the second round of such negotiations between the world's two biggest economies since Trump launched his trade war this year. "The meeting should go very well," said Trump in a post on his Truth Social platform. The president added that US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer would meet the Chinese team. The first talks between Washington and Beijing since Trump slapped levies on allies and adversaries alike took place in Geneva last month. While Trump had imposed a sweeping 10 percent duty on imports from most trading partners, rates on Chinese goods rocketed as both countries engaged in an escalating tariffs battle. In April, additional US tariffs on many Chinese products hit 145 percent while China hit back with countermeasures of 125 percent. Following the talks last month, both sides agreed to temporarily bring down the levels, with US tariffs cooling to 30 percent and China's levies at 10 percent. But this temporary halt is expected to expire in early August and Trump last week accused China of violating the pact, underscoring deeper differences on both sides. US officials have accused China of slow-walking export approvals of critical minerals and rare earth magnets, a key issue behind Trump's recent remarks. While Trump's long-awaited phone call with Xi this week likely paved the way for further high-level trade talks, a swift resolution to the tariffs impasse remains uncertain. © 2025 AFP
