Latest news with #CircleIPO
Yahoo
02-08-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Coinbase's $1.5 billion windfall—and two other key numbers hidden in latest earnings
When Coinbase published its second-quarter earnings on Thursday, the results were ho-hum at best: a narrow miss on revenue and a decline in trading volume, which led the company's stock—which has been on a tear in recent months—to drop by around 15%. The market's focus on typical earnings metrics, though, mean the news coverage largely overlooked three very significant one-off numbers that matter a lot to Coinbase's short- and long-term future. The first of those numbers is $1.5 billion. That figure reflects what Coinbase described as 'pretax gains on strategic investments—which included an unrealized gain on our investment in Circle.' Translation: Coinbase hit the jackpot when Circle, its partner on the fast-growing USDC stablecoin, went public in early June and saw the value of its shares soar soon after. Coinbase is presumably subject to the same six-month lockup as other Circle shareholders, and it's unclear when the company might cash out its windfall or if those shares will still be worth as much when it decides to do so. But even if Circle stock does decline, it's a safe bet that Coinbase will still be sitting on a large and liquid investment it can cash out during a downturn, or use to fuel its impressive acquisition spree. It's also important to recognize that Circle is just one of many crypto firms in which Coinbase has an equity stake. As the crypto market continues to mature, other startups will go public, and it's a good bet that Coinbase will be in a position to collect when they do. If this proves to be the case, the $1.5 billion that the company reported as a one-time item will actually be replicated to greater or lesser degrees in upcoming quarters. The second one-time number Coinbase reported on Thursday is part of a far less positive story. That would be the '$307 million in expenses related to the data theft incident disclosed in May.' The 'incident' in question is the calamitous hacking episode that saw criminals bribe customer service agents in India, and then use the personal data they garnered to pose as Coinbase employees and defraud customers. In response, Coinbase pledged to make good any customer who lost money in the scheme and to put a $20 million bounty on the heads of those responsible. If the fallout from the episode only costs $307 million, Coinbase can count that as a win. But that's a big if in light of the gaggle of class action lawyers and state regulators lining up to extract a payout from the company over the data breach. Then there is the reputational damage that goes with Coinbase failing to see how outsourcing sensitive customer data to dirt-cheap agents in India posed a security risk. For now, though, the company appears to have weathered the PR storm, and its announcement of a new customer service 'Center of Excellence' in North Carolina could help to smooth out remaining mistrust. Finally, there is a third big one-off number tucked into Thursday's earnings report: 'a $362 million pretax gain on our crypto investment portfolio (largely unrealized).' This reflects a pair of significant recent developments. The first is the obvious run-up in crypto asset prices, which is fattening Coinbase's treasury holdings. The other is the recent change in accounting rules that allows companies to record crypto gains as they accrue. While companies accumulating crypto on their balance sheet is generally a dicey corporate finance strategy, it is fortunately only a small part of Coinbase's operations, and for now, the gains are very real and help to strengthen its already strong fundamentals. While one-off numbers are typically just that—temporary noise that shouldn't be mistaken for a signal of a company's broader performance—they can also represent something more. That is the case with Coinbase's Q2 earnings, where items like its massive Circle windfall arguably matter more than the usual quarter-to-quarter revenue and trading fluctuations. 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
Yahoo
23-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Dan Tapiero Projects Crypto Economy Hitting $50T, Launches $500M Fund Under New Firm
Well-known digital asset investor Dan Tapiero is merging private equity firms 10T Holdings and 1RoundTable Partners under a new brand 50T, reflecting his forecast that the digital asset ecosystem will reach a market value of $50 trillion in the next decade. "50T is a natural evolution from our original thesis in 2020 when we launched 10T with the belief that the digital asset ecosystem would grow from $300 billion to $10 trillion in 10 years," Tapiero said in a Tuesday press release. "Today, we estimate that we're already at $5 trillion, far exceeding our initial timeline, which is why we're adjusting our outlook upward," he said. "Recent successes like the Circle IPO and Deribit acquisition demonstrate the maturity of this sector and validate our investment thesis that all value will eventually move on-chain." USDC stablecoin issuer Circle surged nearly 10-fold from its initial price following its the stock market debut last month, while crypto exchange Coinbase acquired Deribit for $2.9 billion in May. Funds under 50T were investors in Circle, Deribit, and digital trading platform Etoro, which also went public recently, and other portfolio companies are also gearing towards going public, the press release said. 50T is also launching a $500 million growth equity fund dubbed 50T Fund alongside the rebrand. It's a closed-end fund with a ten-year horizon, designed to back later-stage companies building out core infrastructure in blockchain and web3, with a first close planned in Q4 2025. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
09-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Cathie Wood, who dumped surging stock, calls it crypto's ‘ChatGPT moment'
Cathie Wood, who dumped surging stock, calls it crypto's 'ChatGPT moment' originally appeared on TheStreet. ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood is a strong advocate of cryptocurrencies whose firm keeps investing in crypto-focused stocks such as Coinbase (Nasdaq: COIN), Circle (Nasdaq: CRCL), and Robinhood (Nasdaq: HOOD). Circle, which went public on June 5, is among the hottest stocks in the market right now. Wood recently said she agreed with Fundstrat Global Advisors Head of Research Tom Lee that Circle's IPO is the "ChatGPT moment" in crypto. She was talking to BanklessHQ on July 8 when she made the remarks. Circle is a crypto company that issues the USDC stablecoin. A stablecoin is a type of cryptocurrency that attempts to stabilize its value, unlike traditionally volatile cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. With a market cap of $61.67 billion, Circle's USDC is the second-largest stablecoin and accounts for nearly 25% of the total stablecoin market cap of $255.46 billion, as per DeFiLlama. Since its Apr. 5 launch, the CRCL stock has soared as much as 600%. Wood hailed the Circle IPO for spurring a shift in how institutional investors approach crypto assets. ARK Invest CEO positioned the Circle IPO in a long line of events in the short history of the crypto industry. Wood said that earlier, fund managers approached institutional investors with a disclaimer that they "may not like this thing called crypto," but it's a new asset the introduction of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in January 2024 secured more audience for fund managers, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) going aggressively after the crypto industry didn't help, Wood added. The new U.S. administration brought a complete change in regulatory policy toward crypto, and then Circle went public, she added. Institutions are now studying crypto hard, and they can't miss out on the equivalent of artificial intelligence (AI), the convergence of AI and crypto leading toward AI agents, and the threat posed by decentralized finance (DeFi), Wood added. The fund manager also hailed Robinhood for launching tokenized stocks, layer-2 blockchain, perpetual futures, and staking. On June 22, Cathie Wood's ARK Invest has offloaded $146 million worth of Circle stock as CRCL surged 248% since its IPO. Despite the selloff, ARK remains Circle's 8th-largest shareholder with $750 million still held across funds. The move marks ARK's third major dump this week amid growing momentum in stablecoin adoption. Cathie Wood, who dumped surging stock, calls it crypto's 'ChatGPT moment' first appeared on TheStreet on Jul 9, 2025 This story was originally reported by TheStreet on Jul 9, 2025, where it first appeared. Sign in to access your portfolio
CNBC
07-07-2025
- Business
- CNBC
Is bitcoin price stalling at $100,000? ETF experts debate next crypto trades
After topping $111,000 in May, bitcoin has not been able to break out significantly above the $100,000 range. Some investors may simply be cashing in their chips, according to Tom Lee, managing partner and head of research at Fundstrat Global Advisors, with investors who bought into the coin during much earlier stages of its history now sitting on huge gains. "We have clients that have bought bitcoin at $100," Lee said on a recent edition of CNBC's "ETF Edge." "They don't care if bitcoin goes to a million; they are probably sellers at around $100,000," he said. Even if bitcoin is running into resistance at the $100,000-$110,000 level, other bets in the crypto market have taken off, including the digital assets infrastructure providers, such as Coinbase, which rose by 40% in June, its best month since last November. It was also the only stock in the S&P 500 to double in the second quarter, on top of finishing the quarter with its first three-month rally since 2023. Among the reasons for the boost in the crypto exchange shares, even as the price of bitcoin has stalled: the passage of the Genius Act by the Senate, the success of the Circle IPO, and the recent surge in bullishness about stablecoins. With other cryptocurrencies that have stalled in trading this year, such as ether and solana, investors who have no plans to sell crypto holdings can still put them to work via staking, and it may be a good option during a period when the price isn't gaining in the short-term. Staking allows investors to not only participate in the growth of a coin's value but also be paid for its use within the decentralized financial (DeFi) system that allows people, businesses, or other entities to transact directly with each other. "You can actually generate significant yields," said Dave Nadig, an independent ETF expert and futurist, on "ETF Edge." He added that the income generated from staking is often "a few points above" what an investor might gain from a more typical fixed-income instrument. In some ways, it is a crypto version of a high-interest savings account, but with one key difference being it is not handled by banking institutions but the crypto exchanges and networks, and this has led to issues with regulators in recent history. When you stake crypto, you contribute to the running and security of decentralized networks like ethereum and become a "validator" on the blockchain. Big players in the financial markets, such as BlackRock, do believe in opportunity for staking to grow this year. Robinhood's Johann Kerbrat, general manager of the brokerage company's crypto division, recently spoke to CNBC about its ethereum and solana staking push. "When we talk about mass adoption, this is what it looks like," Kerbrat said of staking and other recent additions to its crypto services. Other investors may be trading in their direct holdings in crypto for ETFs that now offer the same crypto market exposure. "Let's be honest, it's a whole lot easier to transact. It's a lot cheaper as well," said Nadig. Buying the cheapest ETF right now is cheaper than direct cash-to-coin transactions, with some ETF providers waiving all management fees to stoke more early adoption of their recent crypto portfolio editions. For example, VanEck's Bitcoin Trust (HODL) has waived all fees until it reaches $2.5 billion in assets, through January 10, 2026. "Effectively, bitcoin moved from one wallet to another wallet, the wallet now being ETF," Nadig said. The iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) and iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA) have seen the most action this year overall, with over $15 billion and $2 billion, respectively, of net inflows to the crypto ETFs, as financial advisor and retail investor adoption grows. The company has been waiving a portion of the management fee on the ethereum ETF for up to $2.5 billion in assets, with the 0.25% expense ratio knocked down to 0.12%. Meanwhile, Van Eck has also waived fees on its Van Eck Ethereum ETF (ETHV) until it reached $1.5 billion in assets through July 22 of this year. Disclaimer
Yahoo
05-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
What Circle's surge signals for the crypto IPO market
Brianne Lynch, EquityZen head of market insight, joins Market Catalysts with Brad Smith to discuss Circle's (CRCL) surge since its initial public offering (IPO) and what that success could signal for other crypto-related names looking to go public in the future. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Market Catalysts here. Dan Lynch who is the equities and head of market inside. And one of the amazing areas that we've been tracking is the not just market reception to some of the strategic plays around cryptocurrency, but the other potential players that are still waiting in the wings to make a market entry. Circle was successful, but are there others that are in the crypto landscape, either platform or crypto touching and holding that you think could receive a solid market reception here? Sure. So, Circle's IPO was really this big vote of confidence for the crypto and stable coin industry at large. And they really timed it well when you think of some of the bigger macro pieces at play. You have a crypto friendly administration in place. There's stable coin legislation out now that is really legitimizes stable coin. And then you have some of the biggest banks and retailers in the world talking about launching their own coins. Coinbase is now an S&P 500 company. So all these things are tailwinds to support these companies. When you look at others that might follow, Gemini is one that has confidentially filed. But several other of the top players in the private markets are continuing to grow. You know, Kraken, we just talked to the co-CEO there. Ripple and others are really growing in the private markets. And another lens on that is, you know, this idea of how tokenization can play a role in broadening access to the private markets. And that's something that the SEC chairman actually talked about this morning. It's going to be fascinating to see how many of those companies are able to leverage this moment and this momentum and perhaps appeal to some of the investors in public equity landscape right now.
