Circle, the U.S.-based stablecoin issuer, is going public.
The firm filed an S-1 form with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Tuesday. If approved, the company's stock will be trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "CRCL."
The company said its reserve income from managing its stablecoin-related reserves was $1.7 billion at the end of 2024, representing 99.1% of its total revenue.
Circle is behind USDC, the second largest stablecoin by market capitalization, with $60 billion in supply. The firm's IPO has been one of the most anticipated in crypto, partly because the company has been trying to go public for years.
Its first attempt, a SPAC merger back in 2021, failed after the company didn't complete the SEC's "qualification in time," Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire had announced then. Reports during the time also suggested that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) simply did not sign off on the company’s plans, which Circle denied.
Choosing a different path the second time around, Circle in January 2024 filed a draft registration for an initial public offering with the SEC, a process that dragged on until now amid a crypto-hostile environment within the government that persisted until the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Just yesterday, reports came out that Circle hired investment banks JPMorgan Chase and Citi to help with its IPO, which according to people familiar with the matter could value the company at $4 billion to $5 billion. CoinDesk reported in July that the company was valued at roughly $5 billion in private secondary markets.
According to a press release, JPMorgan Chase will be acting as the lead left active bookrunner, in collaboration with Citigroup. Barclays, Deutsche Bank and SG Americas are also acting as bookrunners.
Circle is not the only crypto-adjacent company looking to go public. Since his inauguration, several companies in crypto have doubled down on their plans to go public, including Ripple, Kraken, and Gemini, which are all rumoured to be eyeing IPOs.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) firm CoreWeave (CRWV), which benefits from a strong business relationship with bitcoin mining firm Core Scientific (CORZ), started trading on the public market on March 28.
UPDATE (Apr. 1, 21:14 UTC): Adds more information on Circle’s history of going public.
