Crypto fever drives Circle to go public: How to invest now?

The cryptocurrency market is on fire again. After a deep slump early this year, cryptocurrency prices are soaring and new investors are flocking in. In a striking sign of the times: Circle Internet Group's initial public offering (IPO) soared about 170% on Thursday, its first day of trading.

The company, which issues so-called stablecoins pegged to the dollar, had a market value of nearly $20 billion at the end of the day. On Friday afternoon, its shares rose another 40%.

"We are committed to building a new internet financial system that is more open and can reduce costs and friction," Circle's chief financial officer Jeremy Fox-Green said on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on the day of the listing.

So far, the 2025 cryptocurrency bear market, which lasted only two and a half months, has come to an end.

Enthusiasm for Bitcoin and companies associated with the cryptocurrency is high. The price of Bitcoin has once again surpassed $100,000 and is now approaching its all-time high after briefly falling below $75,000 in early April.

Retail investors are flocking to Bitcoin thanks to exchange-traded funds (ETFs) launched by companies such as iShares (owned by BlackRock) and Fidelity. Cryptocurrency broker Coinbase Global is now included in the S&P 500 index. Meanwhile, companies like MicroStrategy and GameStop are becoming "Bitcoin treasuries," buying up large amounts of cryptocurrency to fill their balance sheets.

"The more Bitcoin is adopted by corporate treasuries, the higher its price will be. I can do the supply and demand math in my head," said David Waddell, CEO and chief investment strategist at Waddell & Associates, adding that the enthusiasm for Bitcoin is like "widespread acceptance of religion."

This new bull run is being driven by a friendly new regulatory landscape in Washington, including President Donald Trump, who has a stake in it himself through his eponymous company, Trump Media & Technology Group. The social media company is buying bitcoin and recently filed with the SEC to launch the Truth Social Bitcoin ETF. Trump and his family are also backers of cryptocurrency platform World Liberty Financial, which has issued the WLFI token. Trump’s sons Eric and Donald Jr. are shareholders in American Bitcoin, an investment subsidiary of miner Hut 8 that is going public through a merger with rival Gryphon Digital Mining.

“It’s both a catalyst and a conflict,” said Dan Weiskopf, senior portfolio manager at Subversive ETFs. The firm manages the Unusual Whales Subversive Republican Trading ETF, which invests in securities owned by Republican members of the House and Senate. Based on this strategy, the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF and MicroStrategy are two of the fund's top holdings.

But investors considering buying into Bitcoin, other cryptocurrencies or stocks related to the digital currency ecosystem need to be extremely cautious. There is still a lot of hype in the market, and the cryptocurrency space has little to be known for except dizzying price swings.

"How do you value Bitcoin? It's been so volatile," said Tony Roth, chief investment officer of Wilmington Trust. "I don't mind you trying a little bit. But it's purely a speculative capital appreciation play."

Still, ignoring the potential of Bitcoin, stablecoins and other digital assets may not be a good idea. Bitcoin supporters say you just need to know what you're getting into and be prepared for huge swings in the prices of cryptocurrencies and their related stocks.

"Retail investors were depressed earlier this year," said Matt Hougan, chief investment officer at crypto investment firm Bitwise Asset Management, which manages a range of ETFs. "But traditional institutional investors, hedge funds and family offices never changed their bullish stance. This pullback is just a blip."

Hogan believes that cryptocurrencies are still in their infancy as an asset class. The total value of all cryptocurrencies is currently about $3.3 trillion, of which Bitcoin alone accounts for about $2.1 trillion. By comparison, the global gold supply is worth nearly $23 trillion and the total global stock market value is more than $115 trillion. Therefore, Hogan believes that if investors are bullish on cryptocurrencies, it is reasonable to allocate about 5% of their assets to them - even if it is just to achieve a market-weighted neutral allocation, at least 2% to 3% of cryptocurrencies should be held. He is not alone in this view.

"Bitcoin is not going away. We've crossed that divide. It's an asset that's here to stay," said John Darsie, partner and head of global business development at SkyBridge Capital. He added that in the long term, Bitcoin should become a viable alternative to fiat currencies and "Bitcoin is, in a way, a report card on responsible behavior by governments around the world."

Will Reeves, founder and CEO of Fold Holdings, a publicly traded financial services company focused on Bitcoin, added that cryptocurrency supporters have a demographic advantage,

which could drive the market further up.

"Bitcoin is a millennial asset. This group of people is just entering their financial prime," said Reeves. Circle, led by tech industry veteran Jeremy Allaire, is benefiting from growing demand for a digital version of real-time cross-border payments. Circle is the issuer of USDC, a stablecoin that competes with Tether's USDT stablecoin. Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies whose value is specifically anchored to another asset, usually a traditional currency like the dollar or euro. This makes them much less volatile than Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Both USDC and USDT are pegged at around $1. Stablecoins are becoming increasingly popular with financial institutions and consumers because they enable seamless, real-time digital money transfers, such as remittances. There are also stablecoins backed by physical commodities, such as gold. Traders may soon have more investment options to profit from the Bitcoin boom. Circle's eye-popping IPO, along with recent successful U.S. listings by rival eToro and Galaxy Digital, a crypto firm run by longtime bitcoin bull Michael Novogratz, could draw more digital asset companies to Wall Street -- especially as the regulatory environment is more open to cryptocurrencies than it was under former SEC Chairman Gary Gensler.

"The previous administration was not friendly to blockchain and stablecoins," said Kevin Lehtiniitty, CEO of payments network Borderless.xyz. "We expect to see more crypto companies go public because the era of Gary Gensler and his regulation is over." Lehtiniitty pointed to digital wallet company Fireblocks, exchange and trading platform Crypto.com, and compliance and data platform Chainalysis as potential IPO candidates.

Alyse Killeen, managing partner at venture capital firm Stillmark, added that the optimism generated by the Genius Act, currently being considered by Congress, which would provide more regulatory framework for stablecoins, is positive for the crypto industry.

However, investors should still remain cautious. The market's explosive rebound has raised concerns that the enthusiasm is at least somewhat premature and excessive, if not entirely irrational. For one thing, it's unclear whether the numerous cryptocurrency companies, not to mention the hundreds of currencies and tokens, will survive. Much like the dot-com boom and subsequent bust about a quarter century ago, some of today's industry leaders may not exist in the coming decades, or be much smaller.

That's why investors who believe in cryptocurrencies, blockchain technology and digital assets may be better off holding bitcoin through easily accessible retail ETFs (exchange-traded funds) now offered by many large Wall Street firms. Stillmark's Killeen described these ETFs as "familiar on-ramps to bitcoin" that have created a broader investor base.

Even an executive at a publicly traded crypto company acknowledges that an ETF is probably the best option for most investors. "If you've been in crypto for a while, you're very used to the volatility," said James Gernetzke, CFO of Exodus Movement, a self-custodial crypto wallet provider focused on bitcoin. "ETFs are very important, and not everyone can be a 'crypto bro.'"

But everyone can be a crypto enthusiast and profit from the long-term growth of this industry without the additional risk that comes with companies that ultimately fail to become the Amazon, Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook) or Alphabet (Google's parent company) of the bitcoin space.