USDC Stablecoin Issuer Circle Confidentially Files For IPO

Circle Internet Financial – the issuer of the world’s second-largest stablecoin, USD Coin (USDC) – has quietly filed for an initial public offering (IPO) with federal regulators.

Their IPO registration follows a series of historic approvals by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Wednesday, allowing Bitcoin (BTC) spot ETF products to trade on national securities exchanges.

“The initial public offering is expected to take place after the SEC completes its review process, subject to market and other conditions,” said Circle in a Thursday press release.

Circle has not yet determined how many shares will sold, nor the price range of its offering.

Until today, publicly traded crypto firms have remained few and far between, with stablecoin firms in particular yet to hit public markets.

A stablecoin is a crypto token backed by an asset of relatively stable value, such as the US dollar. Circle’s dollar-pegged USDC token boasts a $25 billion market cap, only outclassed in the stablecoin realm by Tether’s USDT token, worth $94 billion.

USDC’s cash and treasury reserves are held with Coinbase, a publicly traded and audited crypto exchange that also holds an equity stake in Circle. Coinbase (COIN) shares are up 9.61% over the past month.

Circle initially intended to go public via a $9 billion SPAC deal, but the agreement was terminated in December 2022 after the transaction “timed out.” CEO Jeremy Allaire said at the time that the firm still intended to go public.

The firm announced layoffs in July 2023 while ending investments in non-core business areas – a common theme for cost-cutting crypto companies after a ferocious bear market that began in 2022.

Publicly Listed Bitcoin ETFs

Bitcoin has now returned to prices last seen nearly two years ago, trading for $47,600 at writing time.

At 9:30 am ET on Thursday, the first 11 Bitcoin spot ETFs in the United States began trading on public markets. Bitcoin’s price tapped a new multi-year high shortly afterward.

JUST IN: BlackRock's spot #Bitcoin ETF is officially trading LIVE as market opens pic.twitter.com/WF6JIwAQxG

— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) January 11, 2024

Fund managers behind the ETFs include the world’s largest asset managers like BlackRock, Fidelity, and Franklin Templeton.

After approving the funds on Wednesday, SEC chairman Gary Gensler clarified that their approval “should in no way signal the Commission’s willingness to approve listing standards for crypto asset securities.”

The SEC has previously signaled that it views stablecoins as securities through its lawsuit against Binance. last June, where it named the Paxos issued BUSD stablecoin as a security.