Paul R. La Monica

Crypto mania is back. And Circle Internet Group, a leader in the world of stablecoins, is hoping to benefit from the rebound.

Circle, which plans to list 32 million shares on the New York Stock Exchange Thursday under the ticker symbol CRCL, is set to price its initial public offering later Wednesday. Demand for the shares is expected to be strong. A managing director of trading at one Wall Street firm told Barron's that the offering is massively oversubscribed, meaning there is more demand for the stock than available shares.

Circle has proposed a price range of $27 to $28 a share. At the high end of that range, Circle would have a market capitalization of about $6.2 billion. (The value would increase to $7.2 billion if you include options, warrants, and shares that could be purchased by underwriters.)

The company could raise $880 million if it priced at the $27.50 midpoint. That's up from an original plan to raise $600 million at the $25 midpoint of its previous offering price range. Circle raised both the size (from 24 million shares) and range (from $24 to $26) of the offering earlier this week.

Circle is the issuer of USDC, a cryptocurrency that is pegged to the U.S. dollar. The price of USDC tends to hover around $1, hence its classification as a stablecoin.

Circle is profitable, and its earnings and revenue have steadily increased thanks to income generated from interest generated on reserves it holds on its balance sheet. But Jacob Zuller, an analyst at Third Bridge, thinks the company will look to diversify its revenue stream and focus more on payments.

Stablecoins, such as USDC and the rival USDT token from Circle competitor Tether, are billed as being better for payments and settlements, and also as a digital store of value since their prices don't fluctuate wildly like Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, and other cryptocurrencies.

Circle's USDC trails Tether's USDT though. According to data from CoinMarketCap, USDT has a market value of $153.8 billion compared to $61.5 billion for USDC.

Both stablecoins are considerably smaller than Bitcoin, which has a valuation of $2.1 trillion. But investor enthusiasm for cryptocurrencies overall is palpable. Bitcoin prices have surged more than 35% since April 7, shortly after President Donald Trump's Liberation Day announcement led to a steep sell-off in most risky assets.

Shares of crypto-investing firms Coinbase Global, which has a partnership with Circle, and Robinhood Markets have also rallied sharply in the past two months. Meanwhile, fellow crypto investment firms eToro Group and Galaxy Digital have both recently begun trading on Wall Street.

Trump and other regulators in Washington, such as Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Paul Atkins, have embraced digital currencies, a stark change in tone from President Joe Biden and former SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, a noted crypto critic.

A proposed bill in Congress to regulate stablecoins, the so-called GENIUS Act, could also give a lift to Circle if it passes. Third Bridge's Zuller said more stablecoin regulations would help Circle, a U.S.-company based in New York City, catch up to Tether, which recently relocated its headquarters to El Salvador, which has adopted Bitcoin as a legal currency.

Zuller predicts that Circle's stablecoin market share could grow from 28% to 40%, noting that "while regulatory uncertainty remains, some clarity is emerging."

The question now is whether this translates to further bullishness for crypto-related stocks on Wall Street. A successful debut for Circle could open the door for more crypto IPOs.

Write to Paul R. La Monica at paul.lamonica@barrons.com

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 04, 2025 15:18 ET (19:18 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.