Stablecoin Issuer Circle Files for US IPO Despite 42% Profit Decline

Stablecoin issuer Circle filed its Form S-1 registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) yesterday (Tuesday), officially confirming its intention to list its shares publicly on the New York Stock Exchange. If listed, Circle shares will trade under the ticker “CRCL”.However, the company did not reveal the number of shares it intends to offer through the initial public offering (IPO) or the expected listing price. As a result, the company’s intended valuation remains unknown.Another Listing AttemptCircle also tried to take the company public in 2022 through a blank-cheque company merger at a valuation of $9 billion, but those efforts did not materialise. Meanwhile, according to Coindesk, the privately held shares of Circle were trading at a valuation between $5 billion and $5.25 billion in the secondary markets.Founded in 2013, Circle is the second-largest stablecoin issuer. The market capitalisation of its USD-pegged stablecoin is over $60 billion. For the governance of USDC, Circle and the crypto exchange Coinbase initially jointly managed the Centre Consortium, which was dissolved last August. Coinbase now holds an undisclosed equity stake in Circle.The latest SEC filing also revealed that Circle paid nearly $908 million to Coinbase, its main distribution partner, for circulating USDC.Revenue Jumped, but Profit DroppedCircle’s revenue for 2024 reached $1.67 billion, marking a 16 per cent year-over-year increase. However, its net income last year dropped by 41.8 per cent to $155.6 million. While the past two years were profitable, the company recorded a net loss of $761.7 million in 2022.The filing further revealed that 99 per cent of Circle’s revenue came from its stablecoin reserves. The company also earns income from holding yield-generating Treasury bills.Currently, Coinbase is one of the leading publicly listed crypto companies in the US. Apart from Circle, crypto exchange Kraken and blockchain security firm BitGo are also reportedly considering public listings later this year or early next year.eToro is another company that recently submitted a similar filing with the SEC for a US listing. Although the Israeli company offers a wide range of trading instruments, it generated 38 per cent of its commissions from cryptocurrencies alone in 2024. It also ended the year with a net profit of $192 million.