Stablecoin firm Circle’s shares double in wild trading debut

Circle Internet Group had one of the splashiest debuts in years, with shares surging 168 per cent after the company and some of its shareholders raised nearly US$1.1 billion in an upsized initial public offering (IPO). Shares of the stablecoin issuer more than tripled from the IPO price of US$31 each, climbing as high as US$103.75 apiece on Thursday while being halted several times for volatility. The stock closed at US$83.23 in New York. It was the largest first-day pop for a US IPO raising more than US$100 million since Sono Group in 2021, data compiled by Bloomberg showed. Shares of the solar-powered electric vehicle maker closed 155 per cent higher on their trading debut. Circle’s deal, which was upsized twice amid strong demand and priced above the marketed range, signals stablecoin issuers are becoming more widely accepted. “The world has already woken up to the fact that stablecoin money is here to stay,” Jeremy Allaire, Circle co-founder and CEO said in an interview following the trading debut. The offering of 34 million shares by Circle and backers including Allaire was increased from 32 million shares and had been marketed at US$27 to US$28 each. The trading gives Circle a market value of US$18.5 billion based on the outstanding shares listed in its filings. Accounting for employee stock options, restricted share units and warrants, the company would have a fully diluted valuation of about US$22.1 billion. The offering comes as stablecoins, digital tokens that are often pegged to the dollar or another currency and backed by reserves, are poised to be regulated by legislation currently in front of Congress, a development that may lead to larger institutional adoption. It may also draw in competitors, with some of Wall Street’s largest banks jointly exploring whether to issue their own stablecoin, The Wall Street Journal reported last month. Governments are enshrining in law the treatment of stablecoins as electronic money, Allaire said. “That’s been accelerating around the world, and that’s leading the biggest technology firms, payments firms, financial institutions and other kinds to lean in,” he said. Circle’s USDC, the second largest stablecoin, had about 29 per cent of the market as of the end of March, according to the filing citing data from CoinMarketCap. There was about US$61 billion worth of the token in circulation as of May 29, its website showed. Circle sold 14.8 million shares in the IPO, while the selling shareholders divested 19.2 million shares, the statement showed. The upsized deal fielded demand for more than 25 times the number of shares available as of when orders stopped being taken on Tuesday, people familiar with the matter said. The target for Circle’s IPO was increased on Monday from the initial 24 million shares within a price range of US$24 to US$26 each, its earlier filings showed. ARK Investment Management, the technology-focused firm founded by Cathie Wood, was interested in buying as much as US$150 million of shares in Circle’s IPO, according to the filing. BlackRock planned to acquire about 10 per cent of the IPO shares, people familiar with the matter said. BlackRock manages a government money market fund on Circle’s behalf that holds 90 per cent of the reserves backing its USDC stablecoin, according to the filing. The Circle Reserve Fund had a balance of US$53.3 billion as of May 29, according to the company’s website. Circle was valued at US$7.7 billion after a funding round in 2022, according to data provider PitchBook. The company had filed confidentially early in 2024 for a listing, more than a year after scrapping a bid to go public via a merger with a blank-cheque company. That deal would have valued the company at US$9 billion. Allaire held 23.1 per cent of the voting power before the offering, followed by a General Catalyst fund with 8.9 per cent and affiliates of IDG Capital with 8.8 per cent, the filings showed. The IPO was led by JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs.

Stablecoin firm Circle’s shares double in wild trading debut

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Shares of the stablecoin issuer close 168 per cent higher in volatile trading

Shares of the stablecoin issuer close 168 per cent higher in volatile trading