The issuer of the second-largest stablecoin USDC, Circle, has just filed for an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange. In the prospectus, the company's founder Jeremy Allaire wrote a letter to potential investors. This letter can help us better understand the operating logic behind USDC.
Jeremy Allaire participated in founding Allaire Corporation in the 90s (mainly producing web development software ColdFusion). The company was acquired by Macromedia in 2001.
Jeremy Allaire participated in founding the online video platform Brightcove in 2004 and served as CEO. Brightcove went public on NASDAQ in 2012.
Jeremy Allaire co-founded Circle with Sean Neville in 2013.
The following is the Chinese translation of the founder's letter in the prospectus:
To understand the vision behind Circle's establishment, I need to look back on my experience; when talking about our achievements, I will discuss our business philosophy; looking towards the future, I want to share my views on Circle's listing and Circle's role in the global financial system in the next 10 years.
[The rest of the translation continues in the same professional manner, maintaining the original structure and meaning while translating to English.]We have faced challenges. For example, in 2023, USDC went through a period of liquidity decline, which was related to various factors. These include the rise of short-term interest rates in the United States, the decline in digital asset prices (with corresponding leverage reduction in digital asset trading), and the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in March 2023 (where USDC had part of its dollar reserves), which temporarily caused a disconnect in USDC's secondary market price, leading some market share to flow to competitors.
Undoubtedly, we will face challenges in the future. However, the growth of USDC and Circle's stablecoin network has shown resilience and enabled us to become a strong and prosperous enterprise in a short time.
Our revenue grew from $15.4 million in 2020 to $84.9 million in 2021, reaching $772 million in 2022, $1.5 billion in 2023, and $1.7 billion in 2024.
In 2024, we reported a net income of $155.7 million, with an adjusted EBITDA of $284.9 million. In the first quarter of 2025, we reported a net income of $64.8 million, with an adjusted EBITDA of $122.4 million.
As of March 31, 2025, we had a total of $1.1 billion in liquid assets, including $848.6 million in cash and cash equivalents and $274.5 million in stablecoin emergency reserves.
During this period, we also built a team with a global background, covering more than a dozen countries and 35 states in the United States. The team has backgrounds in internet, technology, and finance, and possesses the skills to realize our vision.
Circle is a product and technology-oriented company, and we have and will continue to invest heavily in product and technology development, creating long-term value in the market.
VI. Becoming a Public Company
Circle has long been a focus of attention. The market is very interested in a company operating digital dollar infrastructure. Therefore, Circle must operate with high transparency while also being subject to regulatory oversight from US and global government agencies. As a global institution, we take our role and responsibilities as financial asset custodians very seriously.
For Circle, listing on the New York Stock Exchange is our way of achieving maximum transparency and accountability. We are building infrastructure crucial to the financial system, and we hope to collaborate with global leading enterprises and governments to shape and build this new internet financial system. After listing, we must comply with the NYSE's strict disclosure, governance, and other requirements, which will reinforce our commitment to transparency and accountability.
Most importantly, the listing is at the crossroads of Circle and the internet financial system's development. The opportunities we see must be based on a combination of technological readiness, clear regulation, and market demand. It is complex and occurs at the intersection of highly innovative technology and financial services. Although we are proud and confident in our abilities, our future (like our past) is certainly filled with uncertainty and risks. We describe these risks in this prospectus, and we ask you to read them carefully.
Becoming a public company allows us to invite the public to join us on this journey.
VII. Long-term Approach and Philosophy
If you choose to become a Circle investor, understanding our philosophy is crucial.
We are working towards very long-term goals, creating a new internet platform company that will be built on an internet financial system. We believe we are still in a very early stage of developing this new financial system.
We believe we are just at the beginning, with enormous growth opportunities ahead. This means that in the foreseeable future, we must invest heavily in areas with significant long-term growth potential to achieve growth.
Most importantly, we will continue to build and lead the company based on our mission and values.
VIII. What Makes Us Different
We often say that Circle is different. If you ask our investors, employees, or even the entire market, you'll get the same answer. We cannot be simply categorized.
Some say we're like a payment company, others say we're like a financial institution, and some say we're like a consumer internet or platform software company. The reality is that we share some similarities with these types of companies.
This is precisely what makes us different.
We are building an internet platform company: Circle's stablecoin network provides services on the internet for consumers and businesses, and offers a set of software protocols for developers to build their own small business ecosystems.
At the same time, we are building strong financial market infrastructure in an ever-changing regulatory environment. We are proud to embrace regulation, we comply with regulations, and we actively engage with regulators to drive appropriate industry design.
IX. This is an Adventure
If you join us as an investor, I would like to share some words that I have shared with every employee.
Given the complexity of our ecosystem: innovative technology intertwined with highly regulated traditional financial services, building a new internet financial system, creating significant new infrastructure for monetary and economic activities, shaping and responding to policies, and operating these infrastructures in a complex global macroeconomic environment, what we do is not easy. There are challenges every day, but it is also an exciting financial and technological adventure.
We have a clear vision of what the future internet financial system can bring to the world. If we achieve this vision, we believe Circle's investors will be rewarded, and you will also contribute to human progress.
I hope you will join us on this adventure!
