Circle, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, announced on Thursday that it has confidentially filed paperwork with the SEC for an IPO. The tech IPO market is mired in a two-year drought, but 2023 was a big year for crypto stocks, with Coinbase soaring almost 400%. Circle had previously planned to go public via a special purpose acquisition company, but that deal fell apart in late 2022. Circle, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, has confidentially filed for an initial public offering with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, a little more than a year after terminating a deal to go public via a special purpose acquisition company. The public listing is expected to take place once the SEC finishes its review, “subject to market and other conditions,” Circle said in the two-paragraph press release Thursday. The tech IPO market has been largely dormant for two years after a record year in 2021, as investors turned away from risk due to rising interest rates. However, crypto shares soared last year, producing some of the best gains across the U.S. stock market, bolstered by a 150% jump in the price of bitcoin. Founded in 2013, Circle is best known as the issuer of USD Coin, the world’s second-biggest U.S. dollar pegged stablecoin, which was launched in 2018. USDC has a market capitalization of more than $25.2 billion. Tether is its biggest stablecoin rival with a collective value of more than $94.6 billion. Circle had previously planned to go public through a SPAC with Concord Acquisition Corp. in a deal that would have valued the company at about $9 billion. But the SPAC market collapsed in 2022, and Circle ended that agreement in December of that year, just after crypto exchange FTX spiraled into bankruptcy. The timing of the latest announcement comes amid a groundswell of support for the cryptocurrency sector. Coinbase, which took a stake in Circle in August, jumped almost 400% in value in 2023, and other crypto stocks such as MicroStrategy and bitcoin miner Marathon Digital enjoyed hefty rallies. On Wednesday, the SEC approved the first spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds, and industry bulls are betting that new retail and institutional investors are poised to jump into the digital asset market. Bitcoin briefly topped $49,000, reaching levels not seen since December 2021, ahead of trading for ETFs on Thursday. The price of ether surged above $2,600, the highest since May 2022. — CNBC’s Rohan Goswami contributed to this report. Don’t miss these stories from CNBC PRO: There’s one stock Wall Street loves so much for 2024 that five analysts in one day picked it as their favorite Morgan Stanley names its top stocks for 2024, including this streaming giant Investing tips from Warren Buffett to start the new year on the right foot Goldman sees a 50% gain ahead for this Chinese electric vehicle stock, initiates with buy rating ‘Twice as cheap’: These stocks’ discount to the S&P 500 is double its average, Ritholtz’s Brown says
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