Stablecoin Issuer Circle Internet Files for IPO

Circle Internet Financial, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, filed to sell shares to the public for the first time.

The company filed a confidential draft S-1 document to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), it said in a statement. The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the proposed offering have not yet been determined, according to the filing.

USDC is the second-largest stablecoin, with a market cap of about $25 billion. Tether, the largest, has a market cap around $95 billion, CoinMarketCap data show.

Circle's move to become a publicly listed company comes one day after the SEC approved a series of spot bitcoin ETFs. The initial public offering is expected to take place after the SEC completes its review process, subject to market and other conditions, the company said.

Circle planned to go public via a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) deal in 2021, with a February 2022 valuation reported at $9 billion. However, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said that the deal fell through after his firm didn't complete the SEC's "qualification in time."

The company laid off a portion of its workforce last year during a bear market that was spurred by the collapse of FTX, Celsius and Three Arrows Capital.

Shares in Coinbase (COIN) became publicly traded in April 2021, with a listing on Nasdaq at a valuation of $85.8 billion.

UPDATE (Jan. 11, 14:29 UTC): Adds context throughout.