This week, two key signals struck like thunder. Firstly, according to Decrypt citing three informed sources, the crypto prime broker FalconX, valued at up to $8 billion, is in early discussions for an IPO, with plans to submit an application as early as this year.
In tandem with this, the stock prices of Coinbase, the compliance benchmark of the U.S. stock market, and its strategic partner Circle have been steadily strengthening, driven by strong market expectations of 'Coinbase's subsequent stock trading potentially using USDC as a medium.'
By juxtaposing these two pieces of information, a clear picture emerges: the crypto industry's 'Wall Street moment' is not a future event, but is currently unfolding. A new paradigm centered on institutionalization, with stablecoins as the settlement layer and compliance listings as the mainstream path, is accelerating in formation.
FalconX's IPO ambition: the 'last mile' paved for institutional capital
To understand the significance of FalconX's planned IPO, one must first comprehend the core position of 'Prime Brokers' in the financial world. On Wall Street, the prime brokerage services of top investment banks like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are the 'crown jewels' serving large institutional investors such as hedge funds and family offices. They provide not just trade execution, but a comprehensive solution including block trading, leveraged financing, asset custody, and securities lending.
FalconX has replicated this mature Wall Street model in the crypto world. Its valuation of up to $8 billion in the previous round of financing itself indicates the market's high recognition of its track value. The news of its IPO plan further reveals two deep trends:
Firstly, the process of institutionalization has deeply entered the 'unmanned zone.' If the bull market of 2021 was the 1.0 era when institutions began to 'buy Bitcoin,' today we have entered the 2.0 era where institutions need to 'trade crypto assets like Nasdaq stocks.' They require partners that can handle liquidity in the hundreds of millions or even billions, offer complex financial instruments, and are subject to strict regulation. The existence and growth of FalconX precisely meets this shift from 'sampling' to 'heavy investment,' paving the 'last mile' highway into the core areas of the crypto market.
Secondly, the industry is actively seeking the 'crown' of mainstream capital markets. An IPO for any company means stricter financial audits, more transparent information disclosure, and a more comprehensive compliance framework. FalconX's proactive pursuit of listing is a 'letter of intent' submitted to Wall Street by a crypto-native company. It aims to embrace the rules of traditional financial markets in exchange for broader capital sources, higher market credibility, and to reserve 'ammunition' for subsequent strategic acquisitions. This marks a shift in the thinking of industry leaders from 'disrupting TradFi' to 'integrating and leading TradFi.'
The settlement layer dream of USDC: the ultimate practice of the RWA narrative
If FalconX represents the 'exit from the circle' of the crypto world to Wall Street, then the actions of Coinbase and Circle represent the 'entry into the circle' of core Wall Street assets into the crypto world.
The continuous rise in stock prices of Coinbase and Circle is no coincidence. The market is pricing in a rumor full of imaginative possibilities — that Coinbase's tokenized stock trading may adopt USDC as a core settlement medium. If this concept becomes a reality, its significance will be revolutionary, providing a complete validation of the ultimate narrative of stablecoins.
In the traditional financial system, stock trading follows a 'T+1' settlement system, meaning that funds and securities can only be delivered on the second business day after a transaction occurs. This process is not only inefficient but also ties up a significant amount of capital.
A stock trading system with USDC as the settlement layer will bring:
Near-instant atomic settlement: trades and settlements can be executed simultaneously on the blockchain (atomically), completely eliminating counterparty risk and lengthy waiting periods.
24/7 uninterrupted market: breaking free from the constraints of the banking system, achieving continuous trading around the clock, seamlessly connecting with the global crypto market.
Extremely high capital efficiency: no need to pledge large amounts of margin in the clearing system, with released capital available for more efficient investments.
This is precisely the most exciting application scenario of the 'tokenization of real-world assets (RWA)' narrative. It is no longer a theoretical discussion, but rather the reshaping of the world's largest and most core financial assets — stocks — through blockchain technology. In this scenario, USDC's role will elevate from a simple 'digital dollar' or trading medium to the underlying settlement infrastructure of the next generation financial market. It will become the value 'pipeline' connecting TradFi and Crypto, with its network effect and intrinsic value being immeasurable. Coinbase and Circle, as the core builders of this ecosystem, see their excellent stock performance as the market's early vote for this grand vision.
Outlook: Moving towards an era of giant integration
By combining FalconX's IPO ambitions with the settlement layer dream of USDC, we can clearly see the evolution path of the crypto industry in the future. This is an inevitable process of bidding farewell to chaos and moving towards maturity.
A new era led by 'compliance giants' like Coinbase, Circle, and FalconX, serving global institutional capital and the real economy, is about to unfold. In this era, speculative hype will gradually give way to value discovery based on real utility. The valuation logic of the industry will shift from simple user growth to assessing its network value, settlement volume, and technological barriers as financial infrastructure.
For all market participants, understanding this profound structural shift is more important than predicting the price of the next Bitcoin halving. Because what we are witnessing is not just the rise of a few companies, but a transformation of an entire industry, a true 'Wall Street moment' for the crypto world.
