Circle's IPO mega success

Circle recently became America’s first publicly-traded stablecoin issuer, blurring the line between traditional finance and crypto. A big win not only for the company but for the entire crypto industry.

In case you’re unfamiliar with Circle, they’re the firm behind the second-largest stablecoin globally - USDC, and a host of other financial products. They just went public, to be listed under the New York Stock Exchange using the ticker CRCL.

Circle sold 34 million shares at $31 each, raising about $1.05 billion after attracting 7 × institutional and 25 × retail oversubscription. It opened at $31 and ripped past $100 on day-one, closing +168%; day-two tacked on another ~45%, pushing the stock near $125 and a $30-ish B FDV. Huge!!!

Why This IPO Slaps

1. Credibility Upgrade
   Circle’s debut tells regulators, institutions, and your TradFi uncle that dollar-backed stablecoins are investable, cash-flow-positive businesses and are not casino chips. Expect bigger pension desks to start asking for USDC on-ramp APIs by Q4.

2. A Fresh Liquidity Valve
   Issuing USDC prints yield off T-Bills; listing stock gives Circle a second capital stack. More float = more USDC minting = deeper DeFi pools. Staking APYs on stable-pairs will tick up as arbitrage desks deploy fresh inventory.

3. IPO Window - Wide Open
   After two silent years, bankers finally have a blockbuster crypto comp. Chime, Gemini, even EigenLayer spin-outs are already sharpening S-1s. Expect a mini-wave of crypto-adjacent listings into year-end. The storm is coming!

4. Policy Tailwinds
   A bipartisan stablecoin bill is lingering on the Hill. Circle’s success gives lawmakers political cover: “Look, regulated stables create American jobs.” Passage would hard-lock USDC’s moat and shove foreign issuers off U.S. exchanges.

Thanks to Trump’s presidency and the other nations rolling out friendly-crypto policies, the industry is now taking the center stage. This has been evident in the recent feats from crypto-native companies like Coinbase joining the S&P 500, eToro’s upcoming IPO (oversubcribed already), and Galaxy Digital’s uplisting to Nasdaq, to mention a few.

A new era is upon us! are you positioned, anon?

Image of the day

Nothing to see here, just a spike in the number of public companies adding BTC to their balance sheets. Gonna be a breakout year for crypto.

Alpha Bites and Tweets

That’s a wrap.

Thanks for reading!

Viktor DeFi.

PS: I’d love to hear your feedback and comments.