Last Thursday evening, Circle, the issuer of USDC (with approximately 25% market share), the world's second-largest stablecoin, officially went public on the New York Stock Exchange with an initial price of $31 per share. The stock experienced multiple circuit breakers during trading and closed on its first day with a 168.48% surge, at $83.23, with a market value exceeding $18.5 billion, and continued to rise nearly 30% the next day.
Currently, the total market value of global stablecoins has surpassed $250 billion, with USDT and USDC collectively accounting for 86% of the market share, which is why Circle repeatedly adjusted its opening pricing before the IPO, as the market was far more heated than expected.
Circle's listing on the New York Stock Exchange has also dominated financial headlines for several days, helping traditional financial professionals rediscover the value of stablecoins to some extent.
Almost on the same day, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region officially announced August 1, 2025, as the implementation date for the "Stablecoin Regulations", further boosting the market's enthusiasm for stablecoins. Similarly, the GENIUS Stablecoin Act in the United States is also in the works, and everything seems to be falling into place.
We won't delve too deeply into the value of stablecoins. After experiencing explosive growth in recent years, denying its significance would be similar to saying "BTC is useless" and would require a reevaluation of one's perspective.
Rewinding to about four years ago, during the previous bull market cycle, the largest U.S. Crypto exchange Coinbase successfully went public on NASDAQ. On its first day of trading, the stock price briefly peaked at $429, with a market value exceeding $112 billion, bringing hundreds of times returns to many early investors.
However, it then entered a two-year adjustment period, with its post-listing performance being criticized and even labeled a "trash company". Yet, Coinbase's successful listing allowed the traditional financial market to see the emerging new financial market, leading to the current BTC ETF and various reserve assets.
Similarly, for Circle's listing, its significance lies in bringing stablecoins, previously recognized only by a certain group, to the "grand stage" and gaining some favor from old money. After all, if it remains in a small niche, it would be difficult to enter the mainstream world, especially by demonstrating financial capabilities and corporate transparency through listing, which is crucial for stablecoin development.
As Circle co-founder Jeremy Allaire stated in a Bloomberg interview: "The IPO will bring more trust, compliance, and transparency to Circle's regulated stablecoin network and help establish relationships with other financial institutions."
In 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto proposed a "de-trusted currency" form and created BTC, with the ideal of challenging financial institutions that excessively issue currency. However, BTC can no longer effectively serve as a payment method due to various restrictions, which is why stablecoins have developed rapidly.
In a sense, stablecoins partially replace Nakamoto's ideals, though only "in form", as stablecoins have returned to institutional logic, merely borrowing its technical form. However, this does not negate its value.
a16z Crypto's latest report indicates that in the past 12 months, stablecoin transaction volume has reached $33 trillion, continuously setting historical records, nearly 20 times PayPal's transaction volume and close to 3 times Visa's transaction volume.
Some might think the current stablecoin market size is not small, but compared to the traditional payment market of tens of trillions of dollars, it still seems somewhat "naive". However, if stablecoins could become a market with a scale of over $1 trillion in the next 3-5 years, we might just be at the beginning.
Therefore, Circle's listing is more like a small celebration of "legitimization" for stablecoins, with the real drama just beginning. As the most mature application in the Crypto industry besides trading, stablecoins might be the true key to bringing Web3/Crypto applications into every household, rather than the early NFT craze.
For investors and entrepreneurs, this period also harbors numerous opportunities. Making money will always be a good business, and if one cannot be a money creator, at least they can be a service provider in this field. Everything is just beginning, with risks and opportunities coexisting.
So, what will Circle's market value be in four years?
