Jessy, Golden Finance
On June 2, Eastern Time, the stablecoin giant Circle submitted an updated S-1 document to the SEC, and its listing plan underwent major adjustments: the fundraising target was significantly increased from US$100 million to US$175 million, but the valuation was reduced from US$9 billion to US$7.9 billion, a reduction of about 11%. At the same time, the company plans to issue more shares.
The reduction in valuation and the increase in fundraising are not only because of the need to bow down to the current capital and policy environment, but also because the reduction in valuation can increase the attractiveness of stocks, which also shows the common craze of the primary and secondary markets related to encryption in the traditional financial market.
It is not just Circle that has recently hit the IPO. Whether it is US stocks or Hong Kong stocks, stablecoins, and stocks related to encryption, most of them have ushered in an increase. For example, the increase in the policy arbitrage of encryption-related stocks in Hong Kong stocks is very considerable. For example, ZhongAn Online has increased by nearly 20% in the past three days, BC Technology Group, the parent company of the compliant exchange OSL, has increased by more than 40% in the past three days, and Coinbase, which holds Circle shares, has increased by nearly 10% in the past three days, while Everbright Holdings, another major stock of Circle, also increased by more than 20% on June 3.
The full blossoming of crypto-related stocks in the US and Hong Kong stocks is closely related to the advancement of crypto policies in the US and Hong Kong.
Disassembling Circle's prospectus
Circle is currently firmly in the second place in stablecoins. According to Circle's latest IPO document (revised version S-1 in June 2025), according to the data in 2024, Circle's current revenue is divided into three parts. The first is the interest on USDC reserves, specifically the $32 billion reserve invested in U.S. Treasury bond repurchase agreements, with an annualized return of 4.5%, accounting for 86% of this part of revenue; the second part is the transaction and custody service fee, specifically the exchange fee and custody fee between institutional clients' cryptocurrency issuance, accounting for 9%; the third part is the share of on-chain interaction gas fees paid by developers, accounting for 5%.
The key growth in revenue in 2024 comes from the substantial increase in institutional clients, with the number of institutional clients increasing by 82% year-on-year, including Visa, BlackRock, etc.
The valuation reduction and additional issuance of funds this time are not only a bow to reality, but also a reserve of more funds for future development. According to the latest IPO documents, the main purpose of the funds raised is the application of compliance licenses, accounting for 35%, reserves, accounting for 30%, and the development of cross-chain protocols, accounting for 20%, and the rest is used as merger and acquisition reserves.
According to the disclosure of IPO documents, risks also exist. Several important policy risks are as follows: First, if the United States determines that the issuance of stablecoins belongs to the exclusive business of banks, then Circle needs to sell or shut down within two years. Another is that if Hong Kong, Singapore and other places require local reserves, then global operating costs will surge.
Concentrated release of stablecoin-related policies
The IPO of Circle and the surge in crypto-related concepts in Hong Kong and US stocks are inseparable from the policies of the two places.
On May 19, 2025, the U.S. Senate passed the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act (GENIUS Act) by a vote of 66 to 32. This milestone marks the first federal regulatory framework for stablecoins in the United States.
Two days later, the Hong Kong Legislative Council passed the Stablecoin Bill on May 21, marking a major breakthrough in Hong Kong's stablecoin regulation. According to the Hong Kong government, the bill is expected to take effect this year.
On June 1, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Payment Stablecoin Act, requiring stablecoin issuers to hold a banking license or a state-level money transmission license, and reserve assets must be 100% cash + Treasury bonds.
In the GENIUS Act, algorithmic stablecoins are expressly prohibited, which is actually an exclusive license for physical asset stablecoins.
As the issuer of the stablecoin USDC, Circle has always adopted a reserve model that is similar to the 100% cash + treasury bonds required by the bill, and can meet the new regulations without making major changes to its business model. The passage of the "Payment Stablecoin Act" actually elevates the "Circle model" to an industry standard.
The passage of the above two bills is a major boon to Circle's development. In addition to the confirmation of compliance and legitimacy, the above two bills have cleared the obstacles for traditional financial institutions to participate in the stablecoin market. USDC may become the preferred partner of banks, securities firms and other institutions, thereby attracting more institutional funds to enter.
And its latest IPO documents also reveal this. In 2024, Circle's institutional clients will increase significantly.
Hong Kong's policies followed suit. With the dual superposition of the US regulatory breakthrough and the Hong Kong system dividend, the crypto policy concept stocks related to Hong Kong stocks also ushered in a considerable rise. Although the related stocks that rose in Hong Kong stocks were mostly policy arbitrage targets, with the gradual clarification and improvement of the crypto-related policies in the United States and Hong Kong, more and more crypto-related companies, like Circle, are seeking IPOs.
Besides Circle's listing, who else is actively IPOing?
In Hong Kong, the licensed trading OSL Group will also be split from BC Technology and listed. It submitted an application in April 2025 and plans to raise US$300-500 million. It is reported that Hashkey Exchange also secretly submitted its application in May 2025, aiming to be listed in Q4. The above two institutions have submitted A1 applications, which are currently under review by the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
The market maker Amber Group and the security company Certik have made clear their intention to IPO in Hong Kong stocks.
After the compliant exchange fired the first shot of the Hong Kong stock market listing this year, it is expected that more crypto-related companies will submit their applications intensively this year.
As for the US stock market, it is more lively than the Hong Kong stock market. According to SEC public documents and market intelligence, as of June 2025, in addition to Circle, the following companies are accelerating the IPO process:
The first is the old exchange Kraken, which secretly submitted the F-1 document in May 2025 and plans to directly list on the New York Stock Exchange, which is expected to be listed in the first quarter of 2026. The old European exchange Bitstamp accelerated its listing by merging with SPAC. The latest S-1 document submitted by Chainalysis, the leader in chain analysis, to the SEC in May 2025. In terms of mining stocks, Core Scientific returned to the US stock market after bankruptcy reorganization and submitted a new S-1 in March 2025, code CORZ.
The above crypto companies have entered the capital market through IPO or backdoor listing, which shows that the crypto industry is moving from the margins to the mainstream. They have made certain progress in business models, market size and industry norms, and have the ability to compete with traditional industry companies for capital market resources. Behind this is the gradual clarification of supervision, which has expanded the boundaries of the development of the above companies. With the listing, they will obtain more funds to develop their business, which is worth looking forward to by the industry.
Anais
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