Latest news with #Block.one
Sydney Morning Herald
13-08-2025
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
This 39-year-old just became a billionaire after stunning Wall Street debut
Six years after raising $US4.2 billion ($6.4 billion) in the most lucrative sale of crypto tokens to date, digital currency entrepreneurs Brendan Blumer and Kokuei Yuan are back for another public offering. The two own a combined majority stake in Peter Thiel-backed crypto exchange Bullish, which raised $US1.1 billion at a $US5.4 billion valuation in an IPO on Wednesday, bringing their holdings to more than $US3 billion each. The company saw its shares more than double from the $US37 offering price to $US83.83 at 2:43 p.m. in New York. Co-founder and board member Blumer, 39, is the largest individual shareholder with a 30.1 per cent stake worth $US3.4 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He's granted call options to third parties on about 5 per cent of his holdings, which could reduce the value of his position depending on the details of the arrangements, which weren't disclosed in company filings. Yuan, who serves on Bullish's board, owns a 26.7 per cent stake worth $US3.1 billion. Loading A spokesperson for the Cayman Islands-based company, which is also the owner of media outlet CoinDesk, didn't respond to a request for comment on the pair's net worth. Bullish is the latest in a series of crypto-related IPOs this year that have generated 10-figure windfalls for company insiders. Stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Group jumped 168 per cent on its first trading day in June and has since added to those gains, bringing co-founder Jeremy Allaire's net worth to $US3.3 billion, according to Bloomberg's wealth index. Brokerage app Webull., which offers predictions bets on crypto prices and has said it plans to reintroduce crypto trading to its platform for US users this quarter, gained more than 500 per cent in its first two days of trading, minting billion-dollar fortunes for both its co-founders. Early backing Bullish was launched in 2021 with the backing of another crypto business Blumer co-founded with early support from billionaire investors including Thiel and Mike Novogratz. raised $US4.2 billion in 2018 from selling its proprietary tokens — called EOS — in what remains the largest initial coin offering to date. A subsequent stock buyback valued the firm at about $US2.3 billion and delivered seed-stage investors returns of more than 6,500 per cent.
The Age
13-08-2025
- Business
- The Age
This 39-year-old just became a billionaire after stunning Wall Street debut
Six years after raising $US4.2 billion ($6.4 billion) in the most lucrative sale of crypto tokens to date, digital currency entrepreneurs Brendan Blumer and Kokuei Yuan are back for another public offering. The two own a combined majority stake in Peter Thiel-backed crypto exchange Bullish, which raised $US1.1 billion at a $US5.4 billion valuation in an IPO on Wednesday, bringing their holdings to more than $US3 billion each. The company saw its shares more than double from the $US37 offering price to $US83.83 at 2:43 p.m. in New York. Co-founder and board member Blumer, 39, is the largest individual shareholder with a 30.1 per cent stake worth $US3.4 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He's granted call options to third parties on about 5 per cent of his holdings, which could reduce the value of his position depending on the details of the arrangements, which weren't disclosed in company filings. Yuan, who serves on Bullish's board, owns a 26.7 per cent stake worth $US3.1 billion. Loading A spokesperson for the Cayman Islands-based company, which is also the owner of media outlet CoinDesk, didn't respond to a request for comment on the pair's net worth. Bullish is the latest in a series of crypto-related IPOs this year that have generated 10-figure windfalls for company insiders. Stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Group jumped 168 per cent on its first trading day in June and has since added to those gains, bringing co-founder Jeremy Allaire's net worth to $US3.3 billion, according to Bloomberg's wealth index. Brokerage app Webull., which offers predictions bets on crypto prices and has said it plans to reintroduce crypto trading to its platform for US users this quarter, gained more than 500 per cent in its first two days of trading, minting billion-dollar fortunes for both its co-founders. Early backing Bullish was launched in 2021 with the backing of another crypto business Blumer co-founded with early support from billionaire investors including Thiel and Mike Novogratz. raised $US4.2 billion in 2018 from selling its proprietary tokens — called EOS — in what remains the largest initial coin offering to date. A subsequent stock buyback valued the firm at about $US2.3 billion and delivered seed-stage investors returns of more than 6,500 per cent.
CNBC
18-07-2025
- Business
- CNBC
Peter Thiel-backed cryptocurrency exchange Bullish files to go public on NYSE
The Peter Thiel-backed cryptocurrency exchange Bullish filed for an IPO on Friday, the latest digital asset firm to head for the public market. The company said it plans to trade on the New York Stock Exchange using the ticker symbol "BLSH." A spinout of Bullish started with an initial investment from backers including Thiel's Founders Fund and Thiel Capital, along with Nomura, Mike Novogratz and others. "In the first quarter of 2025, Bullish exchange executed over $2.5 billion in average daily volume, ranking in the top five exchanges by spot volume for Bitcoin and Ether," the company said on its website. The IPO filing says that as of March 31, the total trading volume since launch has exceeded $1.25 trillion. The filing is another significant step for the cryptocurrency industry, which has fought for years to convince institutions to embrace digital assets as legitimate investments. President Donald Trump, on Friday, signed the GENIUS Act into law -- a set of regulations that establish some initial consumer protections around stablecoins, which are tied to assets like the U.S. dollar with the intent of reducing price volatility associated with many cryptocurrencies. In its filing with the SEC, Bullish says its mission is partly to "drive the adoption of stablecoins, digital assets, and blockchain technology." Crypto industry players, including Thiel, Elon Musk, and President Trump's AI and Crypto czar David Sacks spent heavily to re-elect Trump and have pushed for legislation that legitimizes digital assets and exchanges.
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Peter Thiel-Backed Crypto Firm Weighs IPO
(Bloomberg) -- Bullish Global, a cryptoasset exchange operator whose backers include billionaire Peter Thiel, is considering an initial public offering as soon as this year, according to people familiar with the matter. State Farm Seeks Emergency California Rate Hike After Fires New York's First 'Passive House' School Is a Model of Downtown Density NYC's Newest Transit Leader Builds a Worker-Driven Strategy Transportation Memos Favor Places With Higher Birth and Marriage Rates When French Communists Went on a Brutalist Building Boom The company is working with Jefferies Financial Group Inc. on the potential listing, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is confidential. An IPO would see Bullish joining a growing number of companies in the sector moving ahead with plans to go public, amid expectations that President Donald Trump will pursue a pro-crypto agenda. Led by Chief Executive Officer Tom Farley, Bullish has more than 275 employees and has offices in the US, Hong Kong, Singapore, Gibraltar and the Cayman Islands, its website shows. It bought media outlet CoinDesk from Digital Currency Group in 2023 for an undisclosed amount. Bullish is a subsidiary of a blockchain software company whose backers include Thiel, Alan Howard, Louis Bacon and Richard Li, according to an earlier statement. whose co-founder and CEO Brendan Blumer also serves as Bullish's chairman, launched the company in 2021 and capitalized Bullish with about $10 billion in digital assets and cash. In 2018, raised $4 billion by selling tokens in what's known in the crypto world as an initial coin offering. The digital asset company failed to register the ICO with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, resulting in a $24 million fine the following year. The token sale retains the record for the largest-ever such raise. Bullish announced in 2021 that it planned to go public through a special purpose acquisition vehicle, but it put that plan on hold. Deliberations are ongoing, details of the offering could change and more banks could be added to the lineup, the people said. Representatives for Bullish and didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson for Jefferies declined to comment. --With assistance from Katherine Doherty, Matthew Monks, Lizette Chapman and Olga Kharif. (Updates with background in sixth paragraph.) Amazon and SpaceX Want In on India's Satellite Internet Market Elon Musk Inside the Treasury Department Payment System Inside Elon Musk's Attack on the US Government The NFL's Flawed DEI Program Still Beats What Most Companies Are Doing The Internet Almost Killed Barnes & Noble, Then Saved It ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Sign in to access your portfolio
