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Circle Internet Financial, operator of the USDC stablecoin, has confidentially filed to list in the US, a day after regulators fuelled optimism in the crypto market by approving the first stock market funds for bitcoin.
The company said on Thursday that it had filed paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a potential initial public offering, its second attempt at a listing after ditching plans to go public just over a year ago.
Its revived attempt comes in a watershed week for the digital assets market, after the SEC on Wednesday approved the launch of 11 spot bitcoin exchange traded funds, run by large asset managers such as BlackRock, Fidelity and Invesco.
Digital assets enthusiasts have heralded the bitcoin ETFs as a new era for crypto, with traditional money managers now able to buy and sell regulated stock market funds that invest directly in bitcoin, rather than holding the token themselves.
“There’ll be a lot more companies in this space that will go public,” said Andrew Bond, senior research analyst at Rosenblatt Securities, after the ETFs were approved.
Boston-based Circle’s filing also comes as bankers and executives are hoping that market conditions for newly listed businesses will improve after a difficult two years.
Companies including outdoor clothing brand Arc’teryx owner Amer Sports, healthcare platform BrightSpring Health Services and casual dining chain Panera have filed for potential listings as expectations rise that the Federal Reserve will steadily cut interest rates this year.
Circle previously planned to go public but in December 2022 ditched a $9bn merger with a special purpose acquisition company led by former Barclays chief executive Bob Diamond, after the SEC did not ratify the deal before a deadline.
Circle’s USDC is the world’s second-biggest stablecoin behind Tether, with $25.1bn of tokens in circulation. Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies designed to track the price of state-backed currencies such as the US dollar, and play a big role in crypto markets by enabling traders to move quickly and smoothly between different coins.
However, Circle’s global market share fell sharply last year after revealing in March it had held roughly $3bn in the now-collapsed Silicon Valley Bank. The admission prompted the USDC stablecoin to temporarily depeg from the US dollar, trading as low as 88 cents. At the time of SVB’s collapse, there were $43bn of USDC tokens in issue.
Circle did not disclose the number of shares it plans to list or its proposed price range and said the listing would take place after an SEC review.
In August, Nasdaq-listed exchange Coinbase bought a minority equity stake in Circle but did not disclose the size or price it paid.