Circle Aims for Public Debut with New IPO Filing

Circle, the company behind the USDC stablecoin, has officially taken a major step towards going public by filing for an initial public offering (IPO) with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

This marks Circle’s second attempt to enter the public market, following a previously failed merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) in late 2022, which was halted due to regulatory challenges.

Over the past few years, Circle has seen consistent revenue growth, projecting $1.68 billion in revenue and reserves for 2024, up from $1.45 billion in 2023 and $772 million in 2022.

Despite this growth, the company’s net income has decreased, falling to $156 million in 2024 from $268 million the previous year. As part of its strategic development, Circle moved its headquarters from Boston to One World Trade Center in New York in 2023, aiming to be closer to key financial hubs.

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If successful, this IPO would make Circle one of the most significant cryptocurrency-focused companies to go public in the United States, following the path of Coinbase, which went public via a direct listing in 2021 and now holds a market valuation of about $44 billion.

However, Circle’s public debut comes at a time of significant market volatility, particularly for tech stocks. The Nasdaq has recently experienced its worst quarterly drop since 2022, and the tech IPO market has remained largely inactive for more than three years. Despite this, there are signs of potential recovery, as companies like Klarna, Hinge Health, and StubHub have recently submitted IPO filings, hinting at a possible resurgence in public offerings.

Alexander Stefanov