The stablecoin space might not be as much of a wild ride as expected. Circle, the company behind USDC, has officially filed for an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange, which makes Ripple's recent $20 billion acquisition offer doubtful.
Reportedly, 24 million Class A shares are going to be included in the listing, split between 9.6 million from Circle itself and 14.4 million from existing shareholders. Share prices are expected to be between $24 and $26, with trading set to begin under the ticker "CRCL."
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The move comes just weeks after reports of high-level talks betweenRipple and Circle, with insiders suggesting the deal was close to the finish line. Ripple had previously made a lower offer in the $4-5 billion range back in April, which Circle declined.
The follow-up $20 billion bid, if accepted, would have been one of the biggest mergers in crypto history and would have given Ripple direct control over the infrastructure powering the second-largest stablecoin after USDT.
Deal dead?
However, Circle has since denied reports of any pending acquisition and has not acknowledged the offer publicly. Today’s IPO filing appears to confirm that the company is choosing the public markets over a private sale, at least for now.
For Ripple, this development could stall a strategic move aimed at expanding its footprint in the dollar-backed stablecoin sector. Ripple’s own stablecoin,RLUSD, launched recently and is already in circulation, but it remains far behind USDC in scale — with a market cap of just over $310 million compared to USDC’s $61.5 billion.
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At the same time,Ripple continues to push forward with other plans. CEO Brad Garlinghouse has expressed confidence in the approval of an XRP-based ETF before year's end and noted that the company’s IPO plans are not ruled out, though they are not a priority at the moment.
So far, neither company has issued an official update on the status of the acquisition talks.
