Stablecoin giant Circle's shares surge in blowout NYSE debut

By Arasu Kannagi Basil and Hannah Lang

(Reuters) -Stablecoin issuer Circle Internet's shares more than doubled in their debut on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday, firing up the IPO market that has struggled to regain momentum.

The New York-based company's stock opened for trading at $69 apiece, valuing the stablecoin issuer at nearly $18 billion, on a fully-diluted basis.

The stock rose as much as $103.75 and was halted multiple times for volatility amid frenetic trading. The shares closed at $83.23, up roughly 168% from their IPO offer price.

The successful flotation is likely to encourage other crypto IPO hopefuls eyeing public markets. Surging interest in digital assets amid rising token prices and supportive regulatory developments is expected to spur more listings from the industry.

"The more crypto companies that go public, the easier it will be for future crypto companies," said Matt Kennedy, senior strategist at Renaissance Capital, a provider of IPO-focused research and ETFs.

"The number of deals is important, but so is the variety — having publicly-traded companies across the crypto ecosystem."

Circle and some existing investors raised $1.05 billion in an upsized IPO by selling 34 million shares at $31 apiece, above the marketed range of $27 to $28 each.

"This morning we had Circle going public in what I can only characterize as a blowout deal," said Lynn Martin, president at NYSE Group.

The outlook for the digital asset industry has also brightened with the Trump administration adopting a lighter regulatory touch and moving to establish a crypto-friendly environment.

In recent months, a growing number of companies have also added cryptocurrencies to their balance sheets to capitalize on rising token prices.

The crypto market is changing and evolving significantly. As the rules continue to be refined and clarified, there will be a flood of crypto and crypto-related IPOs, said Ross Carmel, partner at law firm Sichenzia Ross Ference Carmel.

Circle's flotation is the biggest crypto listing since Coinbase's 2021 debut and the first major IPO by a stablecoin issuer. It had earlier attempted to go public through a $9 billion blank-check deal that fell apart in 2022.

"Public markets have accepted that crypto is not going away," said Jacob Zuller, an analyst at Third Bridge.

MAINSTREAM ADOPTION

Circle's IPO is also a landmark moment for the stablecoin market, which has been a hot topic since the Trump administration took office.

The passage of the pending stablecoin bill could further accelerate the adoption of the digital tokens and make them more mainstream.

Circle is "innovating like crazy" to integrate stablecoins into the mainstream, including creating ways for financial institutions to interact with USDC, said CEO Jeremy Allaire in an interview with Reuters.

The company recently launched Circle Payments Network, which allows for cross-border real-time settlement between firms in stablecoin USDC.

Apart from being used to trade cryptocurrencies, stablecoins are also increasingly used as a form of digital payment.

Wall Street expects stablecoins to become one of the biggest themes within finance in the coming years and the next multi-trillion-dollar market opportunity.

"I think people now clearly believe that this has the potential to do to the financial system what the internet's done to so many other significant industries," said Allaire.

Founded in 2013 by Allaire and Sean Neville, Circle issues the dollar-denominated USDC, the world's second-largest stablecoin by market cap after Tether. Besides USDC, Circle also issues the euro-denominated stablecoin EURC.

Allaire has led Circle since its inception. He previously served as the co-founder and CEO of streaming technology company Brightcove.

(Reporting by Arasu Kannagi Basil in Bengaluru and Anirban Sen and Hannah Lang in New York; Writing by Manya Saini; Editing by Pete Schroeder, Anil D'Silva, Shilpi Majumdar, Shounak Dasgupta and Alan Barona)