Circle Expands IPO Size… "Company Valuation at ₩10 Trillion"

Source

Korea Economic Daily

Summary

Circle announced it has raised the target for the number of IPO shares and offering price, now aiming to raise up to $896 million and achieve a company valuation of $7.2 billion.
Institutional investors BlackRock and ARK Invest signaled large-scale purchases, reflecting optimism for the growth of the stablecoin industry and expectations for regulatory easing.
USDC accounts for 24% of the overall stablecoin market and its market capitalization increased by 40%; Circle is scheduled to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange later this week.

Number of IPO public shares increased from 24 million to 32 million

Funds raised also increased from $624 million to $896 million

Targeting a company valuation of up to $7.2 billion

Circle, the issuer of the US dollar-pegged stablecoin USDC, is expanding its initial public offering (IPO) size.

A stablecoin is a type of cryptocurrency whose value is pegged to a specific asset to minimize price volatility. It is mainly designed to be exchangeable at a fixed rate with assets like the US dollar or the euro.

Circle, currently pursuing a public listing, announced on the 2nd (local time) that it plans to offer 32 million shares in this IPO, a 33% increase from the previous 24 million. The offering price has also been raised from $24–26 per share to $27–28 per share. As a result, the total amount to be raised could grow by over 40% from a maximum of $624 million to $896 million.

Based on this, Circle stated that it aims for a company valuation of up to $7.2 billion, a significant increase from its previous target of $5.65 billion.

Institutional investors have also indicated their intention to buy, citing expectations of regulatory easing in the US crypto asset market and the growth of the stablecoin industry. BlackRock has said it would purchase about 10% of all shares on offer, while ARK Invest announced it could buy up to $150 million worth. The lead managers are J.P. Morgan, Citigroup, and Goldman Sachs.

In fact, on the 19th of last month, the U.S. Senate passed the first cryptocurrency-related bill regulating stablecoins, prompting evaluations that stablecoins are now recognized as legitimate financial instruments.

Stablecoins are attracting attention in the fields of international settlement and remittance due to their fast transaction times and low fees. Additionally, since stablecoin issuers use U.S. Treasuries as major collateral assets, they have emerged as a key source of demand in the U.S. Treasury market.

Currently, about $60 billion worth of Circle-issued USDC is in circulation, accounting for about 24% of the total stablecoin market.

While Tether still leads the market with a dominant 62% share, USDC's market capitalization has grown by 40% this year, compared to Tether's 10% growth. Circle is scheduled to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange later this week.

New York = Shin-Young Park, Correspondent nyusos@hankyung.com

USDC