The company, the issuer of the stablecoin, officially went public, setting the initial public offering (IPO) price at $31 per share — significantly higher than the previously announced range of $24–26.
As part of the IPO, Circle closed the sale of approximately 34 million shares, cementing a market valuation of $6.9 billion. The initial plan was much more modest: they intended to release only 24 million class A shares to the market, of which 9.6 million were coming directly from the company, and the rest from early shareholders. But, as it turns out, demand was huge, and in the end, they had to expand the limits.
Since its debut on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker CRCL, Circle has become the second major crypto company to go public during the Trump administration. The pioneer in this wave was eToro, which completed its listing a month earlier.
Circle's path to IPO was not easy: the company attempted to go public back in 2021 — at that time it was about merging with a ‘blank check’ company (SPAC). However, the deal ultimately fell through, and Circle had to seek another route to the exchange. As it turned out, their efforts were not in vain.
Circle is the issuer of the second largest stablecoin by market capitalization, tightly pegged to the US dollar, and continues to strengthen its position as one of the top players in the crypto future. As of today, it is a systemic element of the entire ecosystem: it is used everywhere, from liquid pairs on CEXs and DEXs to farming in DeFi and settlements in Web3. And now, having gone public, Circle not only gains access to large capital but also immediately falls under strict regulatory scrutiny — which, against the backdrop of current distrust and market turbulence, may play to their advantage.
The listing on the exchange happened just as the hype around digital assets began to gain momentum again — institutional investors are increasingly entering the space, while retail investors are trying not to be left behind. At the same time, there is a bill in the US aimed at regulating the rules for stablecoins and their issuers — and here Circle, as a public and verifiable company, receives a powerful boost.
On the day of the listing, Senator Bill Hagerty, one of the authors of the stablecoin legislation, emphasized the importance of quickly adopting the appropriate regulation. Speaking on Bloomberg, he stated:
"We have broad consensus on the content of the stablecoin legislation. It will help us step into the 21st century in terms of modernizing payment systems. Each such stablecoin will be backed dollar for dollar with American treasuries — and this is the key to consumer trust and keeping issuers within the jurisdiction of the US."
