Weekly Newsletter, 6 June 2025

The Circle IPO - A seminal moment for institutional adoption

Yesterday was a fun one for me as an important milestone in the crypto industry brought together my old world of equity capital markets and my new(ish) one of blockchain technology.

Yesterday, the IPO of Circle Internet (ticker CRCL), the issuer of stablecoin USDC, started trading on the NYSE and immediately shot up to close +168%. This was the first crypto related IPO of size since Coinbase floated in 2021. As we were in uncharted territory, it was not completely clear from the outset of the raising process what demand would look like for an IPO like this. Just fast money hedge funds? Crypto fanatics? Mostly retail? Or would perhaps institutional investors be interested in an IPO tied inextricably to the plumbing of blockchain rails?

It turns out appetite for such an IPO was nothing short of unprecedented. The initial offer size of 24m shares was upsized to 34m shares and the IPO was priced above the price range of $27-$28 at $31, raising $1.05bn. Even after the increases, according to press reports the offer was more than 25 times oversubscribed. Not that this is always the best indicator, but that is one of the highest levels of oversubscription for a US tech IPO in recent years. After the day one rise to $82.23 (having even touched $103.75 intraday), the market cap of Circle stands at $18.5bn.

These stats are however not the most interesting thing about this IPO. What is totally unprecedented is the level of institutional demand. Not just for a tech IPO, but for ANY IPO. Virtually every institutional long only equity investor was scrambling to secure an allocation. In most cases to no avail. Apparently, the world’s largest equity investor and tokenisation missionary Blackrock anchored the offering acquiring 10% of the total of shares on offer (Blackrock also manages a government money market fund on Circle’s behalf that holds 90% of the reserves backing its USDC stablecoin). The aftermarket will consist of institutional investors who weren’t so lucky and will be buying to get to their required level of ownership. That was very apparent on the first day of trading. The aftermarket is not retail driven.

The Circle IPO marks a seminal moment in the institutional adoption of blockchain technology. Stablecoins have emerged as the first true killer use case — one that the entire market can rally behind. While Bitcoin continues to divide the world into believers and skeptics, the utility of stablecoins is hard to dispute: they allow dollars to move around the world as easily as an email, in a programmable way, without intermediaries.

To us, it’s just another part of the iceberg breaking the surface — a visible sign of what this technology is capable of. But 90% of the iceberg is still underwater. On the heels of a blowout IPO like this, more and more institutional investors are going to start looking below the surface.

Also this week

Relevant financial updates

Web3Auth*, a provider of non-custodial wallet infrastructure for Web3 applications, has been acquired by ConsenSys* for an undisclosed amount
Robinhood has completed the acquisition of Bitstamp, a cryptocurrency exchange offering spot trading for over 85 digital assets across the EU, UK, US, and Asia, for $200mln
Moonbirds*, a collection of 10,000 NFTs offering holders access to digital and in-person community experiences, has been acquired by Orange Cap Games for an undisclosed amount
Twenty One Capital*, a bitcoin acquisition firm started by Brandon Lutnick and partnering with SoftBank, Tether, and Bitfinex, has raised $100mln in a Debt Financing funding round
Revolving Games*, a web3 games developer offering new gaming experiences beyond traditional gaming, has raised an undisclosed amount in a Extended Seed funding round with investments from Pantera Capital
Reddio, a parallel Ethereum-compatible Layer 2 platform utilizing zero-knowledge technology to enhance transaction throughput and security, has raised an undisclosed amount in a Series A funding round at a $80mln post-money valuation with investments from Paradigm, Wagmi Ventures, Gate Ventures, Skyland Ventures, Oak Grove Ventures and 6 others
Dexari*, a mobile application that facilitates onchain cryptocurrency trading and is powered by Hyperliquid, has raised $2.30mln in a Seed funding round with investments from Lemniscap and 19 others
SharpLink*, a performance marketing company listed on the Nasdaq, has raised $425mln in a Post IPO funding round to do a strategic accumulation of Ethereum with investments from Pantera Capital, GSR Investments, Galaxy Ventures, ParaFi Capital, Electric Capital and 10 others.
Avantis*, a decentralized trading platform on the Base blockchain offering synthetic perpetual contracts across cryptocurrencies, forex, metals, and commodities, has raised $8mln in a Series A funding round with investments from Pantera Capital, Founders Fund, Symbolic Capital, Flowdesk, SALT Fund and 1 other
Launcher Capital*, a company focused on developing AI agents through gamification and blockchain technology, has raised $4mln in a Seed funding round with investments from a16z
3Jane*, a decentralized lending protocol that offers unsecured USDC loans based on users' creditworthiness, rather than requiring traditional collateral, has raised $5.20mln in a Seed funding round with investments from Coinbase Ventures, Robot Ventures, Paradigm, Wintermute, Kain Warwick and 12 others
Rails, a crypto derivatives trading platform focused on high-speed transactions and self-custody, has raised $14mln in a Private Token Sale funding round with investments from Kraken Ventures, Slow Ventures, Quantstamp, CMCC Global and Round13 Capital
Circle*, the creator of USDC, a regulated, fully reserved US dollar stablecoin designed to provide a stable value and support global digital economy transactions, has raised $1.10bln in a IPO funding round
OneKey*, an open-source crypto wallet that is trusted by millions of users, has raised an undisclosed amount in a funding round with investments from YZi Labs (formerly Binance Labs)
Elsa, an AI-powered crypto co-pilot designed to simplify blockchain interactions through natural language processing, has raised $3mln in a funding round with investments from Coinbase Ventures, MH Ventures, Base Ecosystem Fund, M31 Capital, Absoluta Digital and 7 others
Stable, a Layer 1 blockchain platform where USDT functions as the native gas token, has raised an undisclosed amount in a funding round with investments from Bitfinex and USDT0

*Underlying TBV portfolio position | Prices as per 06/06

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