Circle has made the first official step towards a long-awaited IPO, filing a preliminary prospectus for its upcoming Class A common stock sale.
Circle Internet Group has filed an S-1 registration form with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to go public on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker symbol CRCL.
The filing revealed strong financial results for the financial year 2024. The popular USDC stablecoin issuer reported a net income of $156 million and $1.68 billion in revenue for the last year, compared with a net income of $268 million on $1.45 billion in revenue as of 2023.
The form available to the public contains only some preliminary details of the Circle’s public offering. Further information about the future stock sale, such as the price range and how many shares the company and its investors plan to sell, will be shared in a future update once the underwriters are ready to promote the IPO.
According to earlier media reports, the crypto firm is cooperating with JPMorgan and Citi in the role of advisors to prepare for the upcoming IPO. Circle is reportedly seeking a valuation between $4 billion and $5 billion with its planned public share sale.
In 2021, the company already contemplated going public via a SPAC deal. At the time, the prospective valuation was twice as big. However, it was not the best time for the crypto market, considering the collapse of the FTX exchange and connected institutions. Thus, the deal was terminated in late 2022 and the idea was postponed.
In March 2023, during the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) crisis, the USD Coin (USDC) issued by Circle experienced a temporary de-pegging from its $1.00 value since the stablecoin provider held $3.3 billion of its reserves at the beleaguered SVB, which became temporarily inaccessible. However, Circle took swift measures to reassure investors and stabilise the digital asset under its supervision.
As of April 2025, USDC’s market capitalisation stands at little above $60 billion. It represents about 26% of the total market cap for stablecoins, second only to Tether’s 67% dominance. This growth reflects the increasing adoption of stablecoins in the financial ecosystem as well as investor trust in the issuer and its cryptocurrency.
Although stablecoins are closely tied to the volatile crypto market, USDC is well-positioned to benefit from the growing use of tokenised money market funds as well as stablecoin applications in traditional finance. This is especially true for using tokenised assets as collateral for loans.
In preparation for another stage of scaling up, Circle bought Hashnote, a company that offers a tokenised treasury fund called USYC. It also partnered with ICE, the owner of the New York Stock Exchange, to explore the use of Circle’s digital assets and funds for creating new financial products. In its prospectus, Circle emphasizes that combining stablecoins with money market funds (MMFs) allows for instant redemption of tokenised MMFs, which is a major advantage for financial markets.
Apart from that, the stablecoin issuer scaled up its cooperation with BNY, to encourage wider adoption of its stablecoins by financial institutions and further bridge the gap between traditional and digital finance.
The Circle’s upcoming IPO illustrates a broader market trend. So far this year, IPO activity has surged 70% compared to the same period in 2024, largely due to a more favourable environment for tech and crypto companies. At the same time, the timing is still delicate since the U.S. and global markets are balancing between a welcoming, more crypto-friendly environment and potential economic instability created by tariff threats.
