Original author: Fairy, ChainCatcher
After seven years of running, the bell finally rang. USDCs compliance narrative has finally received Wall Street certification. Since 2018, Circle has begun to knock on the door of the capital market, experiencing the alternation of bull and bear markets, policy games, and even the return of SPACs failed listing. Now, this long race to go public has finally reached the end, and it has also opened a new chapter for the stablecoin narrative.
Circle IPO kicks off
On its first day of listing, Circle (CRCL) performed strongly, opening sharply higher, triggering circuit breakers twice, and its share price soared to $103 per share. Just 40 minutes after opening, the trading volume exceeded 20 million shares, and its market value jumped to more than $20 billion. Circle completed its IPO on the New York Stock Exchange at $31 per share, raising $1.1 billion and a valuation of $6.2 billion. The outstanding performance exceeded the initial expected pricing range ($24-26).
In fact, this listing is more like a concentrated explosion of twelve years of accumulation. According to RootData data, Circle has completed eight rounds of financing since its establishment in 2013, with a total financing amount of US$1.111 billion. The shareholders behind it include first-tier institutions such as Goldman Sachs, Accel, General Catalyst, and Fidelity. Today, IPO is not only an outlet for capital realization, but also an upgrade and confirmation of identity narrative.
Why is Circle accelerating its IPO at this time?
As the GENIUS Act stablecoin bill achieved key procedural breakthroughs and the US compliance framework gradually became clear, Circle decisively pressed the accelerator for its IPO. It seemed to be taking advantage of the situation, but in fact it was grabbing a position.
The Trump familys crypto project WLFI has issued a stablecoin USD 1, and Wyoming also plans to launch the first state-level stablecoin in the United States in July. Traditional financial giants such as JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo have also made frequent moves in the layout of stablecoins. Circle has worked hard to build a compliance moat for many years, but once the national team enters the market, it may lose its meaning overnight. Going public may not be to add to the cycle, but to stamp its own positioning and strive for the last first-mover advantage under the torrent of supervision.
The details disclosed in the prospectus reveal another side of the IPO: In Circles IPO, existing shareholders sold 60% of their shares, far exceeding the IPO level of typical technology companies. CEO Jeremy Allaire will personally reduce his holdings by 8%, and first-tier investment institutions such as Accel, Fidelity, and General Catalyst also plan to reduce their holdings by about 10%. For many early investors, the current window may be a good exit opportunity.
Fortunately, the market response was quite enthusiastic. After the IPO was announced, Ark Invest said it would subscribe for $150 million, and BlackRock also planned to take 10% of Circles total IPO shares. Circles offering size was increased from 24 million shares to 32 million shares due to strong investor demand, and the public offering was eventually oversubscribed by more than 25 times.
Who will take off next?
Circles successful listing is not only its own highlight moment, but also means that the global stablecoin track has entered a new round of mainstream capital catalysis cycle. In this context, a group of companies that bet on the stablecoin ecosystem and laid out core technologies and compliance capabilities early on are ushering in a value reassessment window. So, in this new trend, which assets are most likely to benefit first?
Early shareholders
As early as 2016, Chinese giants such as Baidu, Everbright Holdings, CICC, and CreditEase bet on Circle as strategic investors and became one of its earliest supporters. Now that mainstreaming is accelerating, early shareholders have also been refocused. Among them, Everbright Holdings has risen as much as 38.8% in the past week, and the market has taken the lead in responding to this potential dividend. The following are Circles investors:
In addition, we have compiled some Hong Kong-listed companies related to stablecoins:
ZhongAn Online: Its associated company ZA Bank is the first local digital bank to provide reserve services to Hong Kong stablecoin issuers.
OSL Group: A licensed and compliant exchange that has partnered with Ethena to launch a stablecoin interest-bearing product.
Standard Chartered Group and PCCW: Collaborating with Animoca to issue stablecoins and have applied for a Hong Kong version of the stablecoin license.
LianLian Digital: Through LianLian International, it has deployed cross-border stablecoin payments, and its subsidiary DFX Labs has previously obtained the Hong Kong VATP license.
Coinbase, Base
In 2018, Coinbase and Circle jointly launched the CENTRE Alliance and jointly launched the USDC stablecoin. Although CENTRE was dissolved in 2023 and Circle became the only issuer of USDC, Coinbase retained a 50% share of USDC revenue and part of its equity, and the relationship between the two remains close.
Therefore, Circles listing may not only directly benefit the share price of Coinbase (COIN), but its Ethereum second-layer network Base is also worthy of special attention. Base is a Layer 2 blockchain developed by Coinbase. Currently, USDC accounts for 90% of the stablecoins in its network.
Associated Tokens
In addition to the linkage reaction of equity and industrial chain, some related tokens may also rise synchronously driven by market sentiment. For example, MKR, as the core token of MakerDAO (now renamed Sky), has a high proportion of USDC in its underlying collateral assets. Circles positive news is expected to drive its price up. Overall, the stablecoin track and DeFi leading projects are likely to be the beneficiaries of this round of market.
In addition, the following tokens are also worth paying attention to:
ENA: A popular target under the stablecoin narrative
ONDO: BlackRock announced that it would subscribe to 10% of Circles IPO shares, and the U.S. debt token OUSG issued by Ondo is based on BlackRocks BUIDL fund as its core underlying asset.
CRV: Curve is the main venue for trading multiple stablecoins, and USDC is one of the core assets of Curve’s liquidity pool.
USDC has a new value scale, and Circle has resonated with the capital market. Circles IPO is not only a milestone for the first stablecoin stock, but also opens up a real and visible imagination space for the future of stablecoins.
