After the second largest stablecoin #IPO was issued by $USDC company #Circle , which became one of the most successful in recent years, several other crypto companies aimed to go public on U.S. exchanges. Bitwise Asset Management's Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan believes that shares of cryptocurrency companies are an excellent tool for accumulating value.
"It is impossible to know in advance what will bring greater value, the blockchains themselves or the companies developing them. That is why I think the best strategy is to own both," wrote Hougan.
However, BitMEX exchange founder Arthur Hayes points to the risks of a market crash in the future. Hayes predicts an IPO mania in the crypto industry by 2027, justifying the forecast with the successful IPO of Circle's shares. He believes that the hype around shares of crypto companies will end with a large IPO, similar to the $4.2 billion fundraising for the EOS blockchain, which will gather a huge amount of capital and lead to enormous losses for investors.
Hougan claims that the best way to build a crypto portfolio is to invest not only in bitcoin and other core assets like Ethereum $ETH and Solana $SOL , but also in projects like the decentralized exchange Uniswap. The expert noted that investments in stocks related to cryptocurrencies also fall under the classic investment strategy in the crypto industry, citing the example of Circle's IPO.
"This was one of the most successful IPOs in recent times. The offering was oversubscribed by 25 times, meaning institutional investors wanted to buy 25 times more CRCL shares than the company wanted to sell," noted Hougan.
CRCL shares are trading at around $106 according to TradingView on June 13, which is 65% higher than the price at the start of trading on June 5. The company's market capitalization exceeds $23.3 billion. The peak price occurred on June 9 at $138.5 per share.
Which companies plan to IPO
Just a few days after Circle's IPO, two cryptocurrency exchanges submitted registration statement projects for IPO to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission — Gemini, founded by billionaires Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, and Bullish, backed by PayPal founder Peter Thiel.
"The number of Class A shares to be offered and the price range for the proposed offering have not yet been determined," said Gemini in a statement.
While Gemini is one of the oldest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, Bullish is far less known in the broader community. As Coindesk reports, the director of the Bullish Group, which is behind the development of the exchange, is former NYSE Group president Tom Farley, and the chairman is Brendan Blumer from Block.one, the developer of the EOS blockchain.
Bullish was launched by Block.one in 2021 and according to the company, they raised over $10 billion in funding. Of this amount, the company itself invested $100 million, 164,000 BTC, and 20 million EOS. At the time of the announcement of the launch on May 11, 2021, this was over $200 million in EOS and $9 billion in bitcoin. $300 million was provided by external investors, including Thiel Capital and Peter Thiel's Founders Fund, billionaire Alan Howard, as well as Mike Novogratz's Galaxy Digital, Nomura investment bank, and others.
Another major cryptocurrency exchange, Kraken, is also considering an IPO. As The Block reports, the platform is looking to go public in early 2026.
Have been on exchanges for a long time
Despite the hype surrounding IPOs of crypto companies, many organizations operating in the blockchain sector have long been traded on the American market. For example, shares of most of the largest mining companies have been traded on U.S. stock exchanges since at least 2020. The largest American cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase, conducted its IPO in the spring of 2021 (its share prices are approximately 35% lower than at the start of trading, according to TradingView on June 13). Thus, the crypto business is not something new for traditional investors.
It is worth noting that Circle and the listed exchanges Gemini, Kraken, and Bullish are conducting direct IPOs on the exchange, while many crypto companies are using other options — for example, through mergers with other companies or SPAC.
One such example is the mining company American Bitcoin, created with the participation of the Trump family — it intends to go public by merging with Gryphon Digital Mining. As a result of the merger, shareholders of American Bitcoin will own about 98% of the shares of the combined company, while Gryphon shareholders will own the remaining 2%. It is expected that the miner will operate under the American Bitcoin brand and trade on #NASDAQ under the ticker ABTC.
Another example of a SPAC deal is the medical company KindlyMD (ticker KDLY), which announced a merger with Nakamoto — a new bitcoin holding founded by Donald Trump's cryptocurrency advisor David Bailey, in March. The combined structure will focus on accumulating bitcoins and issuing investment instruments based on them.
