Stablecoin Giant Circle Bullish on IPO Demand, Boosts Offering With $7.2 Billion Valuation

In brief

Circle boosted the number of shares it plans to sell during its IPO, and the anticipated price of those shares, in a new SEC filing.
Based on such figures, the company is now targeting a $7.2 billion fully diluted valuation.
Just weeks ago, Ripple reportedly failed to buy Circle after offering to pay between $4-5 billion for the company.

Stablecoin issuer Circle is upping the ante on its planned IPO, boosting the forecasted price and volume of shares it plans to imminently offer on Wall Street.

The company now intends to sell 32 million shares of Class A common stock at between $27 and $28 a share, according to a Monday SEC filing—a bid to raise up to $896 million. That’s a sizable expansion from last week’s initial IPO plans, which would have seen Circle offer 24 million shares for between $24 and $26 a piece.

The initial IPO would have seen the stablecoin issuer targeting a $6.7 billion fully diluted valuation. Today’s revised plan bumps that figure up to $7.2 billion.

Such last-minute IPO tweaks are generally indicative, on Wall Street, of increased investor interest in a company’s stock market debut. The shares are expected to go on sale later this week, with Circle set to trade under the ticker CRCL via the New York Stock Exchange.

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Decrypt reached out to Circle about the changes and what prompted them, but did not immediately receive a response.

Just weeks ago, crypto giant Ripple reportedly attempted to buy Circle for between $4 and $5 billion—but was rebuffed, with Circle’s leadership dismissing the offer as too low.

Circle’s revised IPO plan will now see the company itself offer 12.8 million Class A shares, while stockholders plan to sell a further 19.2 million Class A shares. The latter group includes American investment firms General Catalyst and Breyer Capital, and China-based investment firm IDG Group; proceeds from their sales of the stock will not go to Circle.

The IPO will be chiefly underwritten by J.P. Morgan, Citigroup, and Goldman Sachs.

Circle is the world’s second-largest stablecoin issuer, after market leader Tether. While Tether is unlikely to offer its flagship dollar-pegged stablecoin USDT in the United States should Congress soon pass stablecoin legislation, Circle has long expressed enthusiasm at registering to offer its equivalent product, USDC, under a new regulatory regime.

Edited by Andrew Hayward