Circle Is Planning to Raise Up to $600 Million Through Its Upcoming Initial Public Offering (IPO)

This move positions Circle to go public on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "CRCL."

Circle, the company behind the USDC stablecoin, is planning to raise up to $600 million through its upcoming initial public offering (IPO), according to an update submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday.

This move positions Circle to go public on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "CRCL."

As detailed in its amended S-1 filing, Circle intends to offer 24 million shares of its Class A common stock, of which 9.6 million will be issued directly by the company, while the remaining 14.4 million will come from current shareholders.

Moreover, underwriters may be granted a 30-day option to purchase an extra 3.6 million shares to cover any overallotments.

The shares are expected to be priced between $24 and $26, subject to prevailing market conditions. While the offering is yet to be finalized, a midpoint estimate of $25 and a fully diluted share count of over 217 million would value Circle at approximately $5.43 billion.

Lead underwriters on the deal include major financial firms JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup.

If the IPO proceeds as projected, Circle itself would net roughly $240 million from the offering, while selling shareholders could receive around $360 million.

Asset manager ARK Invest has expressed non-binding interest in purchasing up to $150 million worth of the IPO shares, though the final allocation remains uncertain and subject to change.

The IPO filing comes shortly after Circle publicly denied rumors of acquisition talks with Coinbase and Ripple, affirming that the company is not for sale and remains focused on its own strategic plans.

CEO Jeremy Allaire has stated that the IPO marks another step toward greater transparency and public accountability for Circle.

This isn't the company's first attempt at going public - a prior SPAC merger plan, which would have valued the firm at $9 billion, was scuttled during the market downturn last year.

Today, Circle's USDC is the second-largest stablecoin in circulation, boasting a market capitalization of $62.1 billion. In comparison, Tether's USDT leads the sector with $238.3 billion in supply.