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Bullish's $1.15B in IPO Proceeds Was Entirely in Stablecoins—A First for Public Market

Stablecoins used in the settlement include dollar- and euro-pegged tokens of Circle, Paxos, PayPal, Ripple and Societe Generale, among others.

Updated Aug 19, 2025, 7:28 p.m. Published Aug 19, 2025, 5:31 p.m.
Digitally altered photo of a dollar bill (Ryan Quintal/Unsplash, Modified by CoinDesk)
(Ryan Quintal/Unsplash, Modified by CoinDesk)

What to know:

  • Bullish said it has received all $1.15 billion in capital raised from its IPO in stablecoins, marking a first for U.S. public markets.
  • Stablecoins used in the settlement include dollar- and euro-pegged tokens of Circle, Paxos, PayPal, Ripple, Societe Generale and others.
  • The transaction underscores the rising role of stablecoins in global payment flows as the sector gets increasingly regulated.

The crypto platform Bullish (BLSH), the owner of CoinDesk, said it received $1.15 billion in proceeds from its initial public offering in stablecoins, which was the first for U.S. public markets.

Most of the tokens were minted on the Solana network and predominantly settled in , the U.S. dollar stablecoin issued by Circle (CRCL), with Coinbase serving as custodian, the firm said in a Tuesday press release.

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The rest of the proceeds were settled with a range of dollar- and euro-pegged tokens: Circle’s EURC, PayPal’s PYUSD, Ripple’s RLUSD on the XRP Ledger, Paxos’ USDG, Societe Generale’s USDCV and EURCV, World Liberty Financial's USD1, Agora's AUSD and AllUnity's EURAU. Jefferies managed the minting, conversion and delivery of the stablecoins.

Bullish debuted on the New York Stock Exchange last week.

The move highlights the growing role of stablecoins, crypto tokens with prices anchored to external assets like fiat currencies, as blockchain adoption accelerates in payment flows globally. The sector is also getting increasingly embedded into traditional finance, with countries like the U.S. enacting rules under the GENIUS Act last month to regulate the sector. Earlier this year, Binance also opted to receive a $2 billion investment from Abu Dhabi fund MGX in World Liberty's USD1 stablecoin.

"We view stablecoins as one of the most transformative and widespread use cases for digital assets," David Bonanno, chief financial officer of Bullish, said in a statement. "Internally, we leverage them for rapid and secure global fund transfers, especially on the Solana network."

Read more: Wyoming State Debuts U.S. Dollar Stablecoin on Seven Blockchains

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