Tonight, the crypto market will witness a significant IPO — the cryptocurrency trading platform Bullish will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange, with a fundraising scale of up to $990 million, valuing it at nearly $4.8 billion.
Wall Street giants like BlackRock and Cathie Wood are betting heavily, and coupled with the warming U.S. regulatory environment, this listing is seen as another barometer of the crypto capital market this year.
Significantly raised prices and volumes, with institutional enthusiasm soaring.
As mentioned in an earlier article, according to the latest filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Bullish will issue 30 million shares and grant underwriters an option to issue an additional 4.5 million shares within 30 days, with an offering price range set at $32 to $33 per share.
Compared to the previously planned issuance of 20.3 million shares at a price range of $28 to $31 per share, both the scale and price of the issuance have been significantly increased. This has caused Bullish's potential fundraising amount to surge from about $629 million to $990 million, an increase of nearly 60%.
This IPO has attracted the participation of many heavyweight institutions.
Investment accounts under BlackRock and Cathie Wood's ARK Investment Management have expressed interest in subscribing to up to $200 million worth of shares at the offering price, providing a solid cornerstone investment for the IPO.
The underwriting team is also quite luxurious, led jointly by JPMorgan, Jefferies, and Citigroup.
From EOS to Bullish, history and reinvention.
Bullish's story does not start from scratch.
Behind it is the established crypto industry company Block.one, which raised over $4 billion through the EOS project between 2017 and 2018, setting the record for the largest ICO in history. At that time, the EOS token soared to nearly $19, but now it stands at only $0.54, reflecting the harsh reality of the lifecycle of crypto projects.
In the latest filings, Bullish disclosed that Block.one has transferred its remaining shares to a company associated with its CEO Brendan Blumer and has shifted a $500 million loan to a company in the Cayman Islands.
Bullish acknowledges in its filings that this history may bring complexity in terms of licensing and approvals in some markets. However, in the current context of the U.S. government's shift to support the crypto industry, this 'burden' feels more like a reminder than an obstacle.
Bullish primarily focuses on digital asset trading and liquidity services for institutional clients, covering over 50 jurisdictions (excluding the U.S. market). In November 2023, the company spent $72.6 million to acquire crypto media CoinDesk, which is the second-largest crypto media outlet globally, with an average monthly independent visitor count nearing 4.9 million in 2024.
The prospectus shows that the company plans to convert part of the IPO funds into USD-denominated stablecoins to enhance trading liquidity and platform development.
Bullish had announced its plans to go public through a SPAC merger in 2021, with a valuation reaching $9 billion at one point, but canceled the transaction in 2022. Now, it is returning to the capital market through a traditional IPO.
The wave of crypto IPOs is surging, making the crypto space increasingly crowded.
Bullish is not fighting alone. Since 2024, the enthusiasm for crypto company IPOs and listings has significantly heated up:
Stablecoin issuer Circle successfully went public in June this year, raising nearly $900 million and significantly increasing its market capitalization;
Mike Novogratz's Galaxy Digital went public on Nasdaq in May;
The trading and investment platform eToro has opened up to public trading;
BitGo and Gemini have also submitted U.S. listing applications;
Leading exchanges such as Kraken and OKX are preparing for IPOs in the U.S.
Behind the market enthusiasm is favorable U.S. policy. In July this year, President Trump signed the stablecoin bill (GENIUS Act), and Congress passed two bills related to market structure and anti-central bank digital currencies before recess, clearing some regulatory hurdles for the development of crypto financial institutions.
Despite the smooth fundraising, Bullish faces extremely fierce competition in the secondary market. Industry giants like Coinbase and Binance, along with a batch of emerging exchanges with low fees and high liquidity, are competing for market share.
The term 'competition' appears 32 times in Bullish's prospectus, highlighting the management's acute awareness of survival pressures.
For Bullish, shedding historical burdens is just the first step; the real test lies in whether it can win the future in a crowded market characterized by price wars.
