On June 5, Circle, a renowned issuer of stablecoin, made an impressive debut in the public market as its stock price saw an astonishing 167% rise in the first trading session on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
Under the CRCL ticker, shares of Circle opened at $31, and experienced a 235% surge in the first few hours of trading before settling at $82 by the end of the day. This performance suggests an increasing demand in the market for stablecoin businesses.
Notably, the round was oversubscribed. Prior to this, on May 28, BlackRock, the largest asset manager globally, expressed interest in acquiring a 10% stake in the IPO. Furthermore, ARK Investment, led by Cathie Wood, was reportedly eyeing a purchase of $150 million worth of shares in the offering.
Such high demand led Circle to increase its offering to a marketed range of $1.05 billion, with 34 million shares available for investors. Circle is recognized for its dollar-pegged stablecoin, USDC. The company had been preparing for this offer for several months, but postponed plans due to macroeconomic uncertainty stemming from ongoing trade wars.
However, the Circle IPO did face criticism. Arca Chief Investment Officer Jeff Dorman, in a now-deleted post, blasted Circle for only allotting Arca a $135,000 allocation in the IPO. Arca, according to Dorman, is one of Circle’s earliest supporters, making the allocation a “joke, throwaway” move in his view.
