Circle’s CRCL Shares Start Trading on NYSE
Circle, the issuer of the second-largest stablecoin by market capitalization, USDC, has begun trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire took to X on June 5 to announce the company’s public debut of CRCL shares on the NYSE.
The company’s public listing comes 12 years after Allaire co-founded Circle with Sean Neville with a mission to remake the global economic system by “re-imagining and re-building it from the ground up natively on the internet,” the CEO said.
“Our transformation into being a public company is a significant and powerful milestone — the world is ready to start upgrading and moving to the internet financial system,” Allaire noted.
Big event for crypto
Circle’s public launch came shortly after the company reported another upsizing of its initial public offering (IPO) to $1.05 billion, selling 34 million shares at $31 each. The IPO originally sought to offer 24 million shares priced between $24 and $26.
Allaire’s announcement on X has drawn attention from major figures in the crypto community, including Strategy co-founder Michael Saylor and Coinbase chief legal officer Paul Grewal, who were among the first to congratulate Circle with the NYSE listing.
“Congratulations, Jeremy — to you and the entire CRCL team,” Saylor wrote.
“To every single person, project and firm who’s been part of this journey, thank you. I am humbled and deeply grateful,” Allaire said in the announcement, adding:
“This is not only a moment for each of us personally, I believe it’s a significant moment in the future development of our global economic system as it inexorably synthesizes with the internet.”
USDC market cap rises 40% YTD
Circle’s public launch comes as the company’s flagship product, the USDC (USDC) stablecoin, sees significant growth in its market value.
According to CoinGecko data, the USDC market cap surged more than 40% from $43.7 billion on Jan. 1 to the current $61.5 billion, topping $62 billion in April.
At the time of writing, USDC is the seventh-largest cryptocurrency on the market, and is the second-largest stablecoin after Tether’s USDt (USDT), with its much larger $153.9 billion market cap.
Related: Dubai regulator greenlights Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin
Though operating a significantly bigger stablecoin than Circle’s USDC, El Salvador-headquartered Tether is not looking to launch an IPO anytime soon, according to its CEO, Paolo Ardoino.
Other public companies operate and issue stablecoins, including PayPal, which launched its PayPal USD (PYUSD) stablecoin in 2023. PYUSD is a significantly smaller stablecoin, with a market cap of under $1 billion, according to CoinGecko.
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