- Circle Internet Financial has filed for an Initial Public Offering (IPO) with the SEC after the recent approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs
- Details regarding the number of shares and the proposed offering’s price range are pending determination
- This marks Circle’s second attempt at going public following an effort in 2021
Circle Internet Financial, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, has initiated the process of going public by filing for an Initial Public Offering (IPO) with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). While details about the number of shares and the proposed offering’s price range are yet to be determined, this development follows the recent SEC approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs and represents the company’s second attempt at going public. Circle submitted a confidential draft S-1 document to the SEC and hopes that the recent awarding of a Bitcoin ETF will aid its progress.
An Expanding Circle
Circle’s USDC stablecoin is currently the second-largest stablecoin with a market cap of approximately $25 billion, although the company has revealed plans to expand beyond this in recent years: in September last year, payments giant Visa began a pilot program sending USDC on the Solana blockchain and two months later it teamed up with Japanese financial services firm SBI Holdings to boost the adoption of USDC and web3 services in the country.
An IPO is the mechanism through which a private company transitions to being publicly traded on a stock exchange. During an IPO, shares of the company are made available to the public for the first time, providing an opportunity for investors to buy ownership stakes in the company. Circle’s IPO filing indicates its intent to offer its shares to the public, allowing interested investors to participate in the company’s ownership.
Second Time Lucky?
Circle had initially planned to go public through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) deal in 2021, with a reported valuation of $9 billion in February 2022. However, the SPAC deal fell through when the company couldn’t complete the SEC’s qualification in time, as Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire explained at the time.
The timing of Circle’s IPO will be contingent on the SEC’s completion of the review process and other market conditions, but the move towards going public underscores Circle’s commitment to transparency and compliance within the cryptocurrency landscape.
