Circle hits $75 per share in first-day pop on NYSE

Stablecoin issuer Circle started trading on the New York Stock Exchange Thursday at a price of $69 per share, but quickly jumped as high as $75 in initial trading. The company trades under the ticker symbol CRCL. The stock was halted for volatility within minutes of opening. 

“We’ve seen really, really tremendous demand from phenomenal investors that I think see what we see, which is that the internet is entering a new chapter,” Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said during an interview with CNBC Thursday ahead of the listing. 

“It is the chapter of upgrading the financial system with stablecoin money.” 

This opening trade price is higher than the company’s Wednesday evening initial public offering price of $31, which was above the proposed range. Investors who purchased directly from underwriters are now up roughly 144%. 

Allaire rang the opening bell at the NYSE ahead of trading and is scheduled to ring the closing bell virtually from Circle’s New York headquarters. 

Circle, its founder and its early shareholders raised $1.1 billion from 34 million shares. After the close on Wednesday, the company upped the offering from 32 million shares.

There was overwhelming investor demand for the IPO. The offering was 25 times oversubscribed, according to a report from Bloomberg. 

Read more: Weighing institutional, retail demand for Circle ahead of public debut

“This is how the US becomes the global crypto/blockchain hub and fulfills the administration’s objective,” 10T Holdings CEO Dan Tapiero wrote in a Wednesday LinkedIn post . “The bigger companies in the digital asset world gain added credibility by going through a real-world vetting process.”

Now, all eyes are on how the stock moves in the first few hours of trading. 

VanEck’s Matthew Sigel told Blockworks Tuesday that Circle can be considered a “boring is beautiful trade” for institutions given its profitability, minimal leverage and position within the Web3 ecosystem. But retail investors “may find it harder to latch on” to a company with less volatility and brand recognition than an exchange like Coinbase, he argued. 

Circle’s NYSE listing comes a few weeks after Galaxy Digital and DeFi Technologies made their respective US public debuts on the Nasdaq. 

Tapiero said at Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit in March that ownership of crypto companies via exchange listings was a “mini step” that leads to more value moving onchain.

“American investors like to own businesses with cash flow, balance sheets, income statements, a proper board — and also legitimacy,” he noted at the time.

This is a developing story.

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