Latest news with #Allaire
Yahoo
4 days ago
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Circle's CEO is thrilled over SEC oversight
In today's CEO Daily: Diane Brady on Circle's IPO pop. The big story: Elon Musk and Donald Trump are fighting. The markets: Up in U.S. before jobs report. Analyst notes from UBS, BofA, and Goldman Sachs. Plus: All the news and watercooler chat from Fortune. Good morning. Yesterday was a very good day for Jeremy Allaire, as shares in his crypto firm Circle (CRCL) began trading on the New York Stock Exchange, closing at 168% above its $31 IPO price (the company upsized the IPO the night before its debut). 'As we went through our IPO Road Show and ultimately priced the deal, we saw an incredible amount of interest and enthusiasm from an incredibly broad and deep array of investors,' Allaire told me in a phone conversation on Thursday. It's been a long journey for Allaire, who tried to take the stablecoin issuer public through a SPAC merger in 2021 but didn't get approval from the SEC, which had then questioned how to classify its USD Coin, a form of cryptocurrency backed by the U.S. dollar, and the company itself. Fast forward and it's a new day. The GENIUS Act just passed the Senate with bipartisan support and looks likely to become law, providing a federal framework for regulating stablecoins. (The House introduced its own stablecoin bill.) Said Allaire: 'No matter what your political affiliation is, sound regulation makes sense, especially when a technology like this is on the cusp of such widespread adoption.' For Allaire, though, nothing matches the thrill of being under the watch of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 'As a financial platform and financial infrastructure company that people are going to build on, where we're actually issuing a new kind of money, being public really matters,' he said. 'Becoming an SEC-regulated and supervised company just strengthens those attributes at a time where stable coin is becoming a global mainstream phenomenon.' At the end of a long day, Allaire told me he's grateful to his family, his team, developers that build applications on this technology, and the broad and deep array of investors that helped give Circle a successful debut. But, he says, he doesn't want to get too caught up in the stock price. 'What's important is that we're building a great company. We've got investors that want to be with us. We've got a lot to do.' More news CEO Daily via Diane Brady at This story was originally featured on Errore nel recupero dei dati Effettua l'accesso per consultare il tuo portafoglio Errore nel recupero dei dati Errore nel recupero dei dati Errore nel recupero dei dati Errore nel recupero dei dati
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
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Stablecoin Issuer Circle Surges 168% in NYSE Debut After IPO Tops Price Expectations
Shares of Circle Internet Group (NYSE:CRCL) jumped 168% on Thursday following its initial public offering, which raised nearly $1.1 billion for the stablecoin firm and its selling shareholders. The stock debuted at $69 on the New York Stock Exchange, well above its IPO price of $31, and at one point hit a high of $103.75. Circle Internet Group (NYSE:CRCL) set its IPO price late Wednesday, significantly above both the revised $27–$28 range earlier in the week and the initial $24–$26 estimate from last week, giving the company a valuation of around $6.8 billion before trading began. By the end of the day, trading volume hit approximately 46 million shares, well above the number of publicly available shares. CEO Jeremy Allaire made the following statement on CNBC's 'Money Movers' on Thursday: 'To realize our vision, we needed to forge relationships with governments, we needed to work with policymakers … because if you want this to work for mainstream, it's got to work in mainstream society and you need to have those rules of the road. We've been one of the most licensed, regulated, compliant, transparent companies in the entire history of this industry, and that's served us well.' Allaire co-founded Circle Internet Group (NYSE:CRCL) in 2013. Originally headquartered in Boston, the company began with a focus on consumer payment solutions, along with crypto wallet and exchange services. In 2015, it became the first company to secure the notoriously hard-to-get BitLicense from New York State. Earlier this year, Circle relocated its headquarters to New York. While we acknowledge the potential of CRCL as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an extremely cheap AI stock that is also a major beneficiary of Trump tariffs and onshoring, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: and Disclosure. None. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
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The race to embrace stablecoins heats up on Wall Street
The race to embrace stablecoins is heating up, with major issuer Circle (CRCL) soaring on its first day of trading Thursday while the biggest banks in the US explore whether to issue their own coins. On Thursday morning Circle founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire stood on a balcony before the trading floor at the New York Stock Exchange pumping his fists and cheering before ringing the opening bell. 'Let's go! Lets go!' Allaire yelled. By the end of the day Circle's stock more than doubled on its market debut, after listing at $31. It closed Thursday at $83, up 167%. Circle's USD Coin (USDC-USD) is the world's second largest stablecoin after Tether (USDT-USD). Unlike bitcoin and other digital assets, the price of stablecoins aren't supposed to fluctuate. Instead, they are pegged to assets such as the US dollar. And they serve as the lifeblood of the crypto world, accounting for the bulk of its transaction volume. Wall Street isn't just celebrating the debut of a major stablecoin issuer. It is also considering how it can compete against Circle in the future. A group of big banks including JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Wells Fargo (WFC), Citigroup (C) and PNC (PNC) met last week in a working group to discuss the prospect of offering stablecoins in a collaborative effort, according to people familiar with the matter. One idea currently being floated is creating a Zelle-like stablecoin network, according to the people familiar with the matter. Representatives for the Clearing House Payments Company and Early Warning Services, the fintech company behind Zelle, were also part of the working group for tech and innovation executives of member banks. The meeting was exploratory and marked the early stages of a conversation between the member banks, two of the people said. This gathering was spearheaded by PNC CEO William Demchak and there will be more. The Wall Street Journal first reported the existence of these discussions. Big banks are beginning to weigh their options for whether to buy, build or partner with a crypto firm to issue these assets because potential legislation setting rules around stablecoins is currently making its way through Congress and is expected to soon move to a final vote. Another broader bill focusing on crypto market structure that will lay out which regulatory agency oversees which crypto assets is expected to be introduced soon too. Banks are also eyeing other crypto activities. At least two big Wall Street institutions — Morgan Stanley (MS) and Charles Schwab (SCHW) — plan to offer cryptocurrencies through their wealth management platforms sometime next year. In a Yahoo Finance podcast last month, Charles Schwab CEO Rick Wurster laid out plans to offer retail clients spot crypto within the next 12 months. Morgan Stanley also plans to offer crypto trading to retail clients through its E*Trade platform, according to a May Bloomberg report. E*Trade had $1.29 trillion in client assets on its platform as of March 31, according to Morgan Stanley filings. And the country's biggest bank, JPMorgan, is also showing more acceptance for clients flush in digital assets. Some of the company's financing operations in trading and wealth management plan to accept selective crypto exchange traded funds as collateral for loans in the coming weeks, according to a Bloomberg report. And in some cases the bank will begin counting a client's crypto holdings in assessments of their total net worth and liquidity, putting digital assets into the same playing field the firm uses for valuing things like stocks, art and motor vehicles when underwriting how much money it can lend to them. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said at the firm's investor day in May that he's "not a fan" of bitcoin, but that his bank would allow clients to own it. "I don't think we should smoke, but I defend your right to smoke,' Dimon said at the time. 'I defend your right to buy Bitcoin, go at it." David Hollerith is a senior reporter for Yahoo Finance covering banking, crypto, and other areas in finance. Click here for in-depth analysis of the latest stock market news and events moving stock prices Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
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Stablecoin issuer Circle soars in public market debut
Shares of stablecoin issuer Circle soared in its NYSE debut today, a validation of crypto's newfound importance to the American financial system and a symptom of investors starved for new issuances during a long IPO drought. Trading in the stock was halting just seconds after it began after the stock, which had been sold last night to IPO investors for $31 a share, opened at $69 and soared to nearly $76. The $31 price was below where Circle was previously valued by private investors. In an interview off the NYSE trading floor with Semafor, CEO Jeremy Allaire said he worried that if the US doesn't create a trusted and useful digital dollar — something his company's main product, USD Coin, aims to be — it might lose the 'digital currency space race' to China, which has a formidable lead over the US with its digital yuan. 'The digital dollar should be the highest utility money in the world,' he said. 'We are believers in the strength and continued preeminence of the dollar in the global financial system, and in the internet financial system that's being built up.' It's the digital version of a broader debate about the future of the dollar, as the global economy fractures under trade and geopolitical tensions. It's also a politically expedient play for Allaire's company, which, as the Financial Times notes, is quite exposed to the whims of central banks. A rival stablecoin issuer, Tether, has also latched onto the US-China rivalry. Liz Hoffman: The House passed stablecoin legislation. What's your expectation for what happens in the Senate? Jeremy Allaire: The GENIUS Act had a bipartisan supermajority to get it to where it is, and we believe it's an excellent piece of legislation. This is part of an effort by policymakers and governments around the world to integrate stablecoins as an M1-like electronic money type in the financial system. It represents a tremendous opportunity to have more companies, more financial institutions, more technology firms, build on this breakthrough technology. Do you expect competition from the Trump family? Circle has always faced competition. The position we've been able to build as a licensed, regulated, global firm — we think those remain strengths, and we're very comfortable that we're going to continue to be the leader. Becoming a public company is significant in terms of enhancing trust, transparency, and accountability. Crypto is right on the cusp of going mainstream, but is still shot through with fraud and criminal-adjacent actors. Do you think you can fully drag it into the sunlight? We aren't focused on speculative trading or different types of digital assets. We're trying to improve the financial system by building a new, electronic form of the dollar, and ultimately other fiat electronic money, to make the global economic system more fair and integrated. We saw, in the birth and growth of the internet, a huge range of things that people thought were useful — some of which became fundamental to all of our lives and some of which don't exist anymore. Do you worry that if the US doesn't become the backbone of that global digital infrastructure that someone else, maybe the Chinese, will? I do. The digital dollar should be the highest utility money in the world. We're trying to cement in law a framework that assures that the United States … can win the digital- currency space race. We are believers in the strength and continued preeminence of the dollar in the global financial system, and in the internet financial system that's being built up. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
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Circle raises $1.05 billion in long-awaited IPO, shares price at $31
Circle Internet Group, the crypto firm that tried to go public in 2021 but ended up pulling its deal, will finally enter the public equities market. Late Wednesday, Circle raised $1.05 billion in one of the most anticipated IPOs of the year. Circle again increased the size of its deal Wednesday and priced above its marketed range when it sold 34 million shares at $31 each. Earlier this week, the company boosted its offering to 32 million shares at $27 to $28 each, up from its original terms of 24 million shares at $24 to $26. Circle will trade Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker 'CRCL.' At $31, Circle is valued at $8.06 billion, based on $6.9 billion worth of outstanding shares plus the value of outstanding employee stock options, restricted share units and warrants. Circle's prospectus lists 15 investment banks working on the IPO, with J.P. Morgan, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs serving as lead underwriters. Circle is a leading U.S. crypto firm that issues the stablecoin USD Coin. In 2013, internet entrepreneur Jeremy Allaire and Sean Neville co-founded Circle, but Neville stepped down as co-CEO in 2019, leaving Allaire as sole chief executive. Circle has raised $1.1 billion in funding from investors including BlackRock and Coinbase, according to Crunchbase. The fintech is profitable. Circle reported $156 million in net income in fiscal 2024, down from $268 million net income for the prior year. On a quarterly basis, Circle posted a profit of $65 million for the three months ended March 31, up from $49 million in profit for the same time period in 2024. According to the prospectus, Circle CEO Allaire is selling 1,582,160 shares and will have a 23.7% voting stake after the IPO is completed. At $31, Allaire stands to make $49 million. This story was originally featured on Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
