Stablecoin issuer Circle Internet considering 2024 IPO

CIRCLE Internet Financial, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, is considering going public early in 2024, according to sources with knowledge of the matter.

The company is talking to advisers as it prepares for a potential initial public offering (IPO), said the sources, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential information. Deliberations are ongoing and there’s no certainty that Circle will decide to proceed with a listing, the sources said. While it’s not clear how much Circle would seek to be valued in an IPO, it was valued at US$9 billion when it tried to go public in a blank-check deal in 2022.

“Becoming a US-listed public company has long been part of Circle’s strategic aspirations. We don’t comment on rumours,” a representative for Circle said.

Last year, Circle ended a deal to go public via a merger with Concord Acquisition, a blank-check firm led by ex-Barclays chief executive officer Bob Diamond.

Circle has raised money from investors including Goldman Sachs Group, General Catalyst Partners, BlackRock, Fidelity Management and Research and Marshall Wace. It was worth US$7.7 billion in a 2022 funding round, Axios reported at the time.

Circle issues one of the world’s largest stablecoins, which are crypto tokens pegged to an asset such as the US dollar that is mostly used by traders to move digital assets between exchanges. Earlier this year, Circle revealed it had US$3.3 billion of exposure to the collapsed Silicon Valley Bank, triggering a brief depeg of USD Coin. It plans to share financial reports on an ongoing basis and has hired Deloitte as an auditor, Bloomberg News reported in August. BLOOMBERG