LONDON/WASHINGTON, Jan 11 (Reuters) – Circle Internet
Financial, the company behind stablecoin USDC, said on Thursday
that it had confidentially filed for a U.S. initial public
offering as part of plans to become a publicly-traded company.
Circle did not disclose the number of shares it plans to
sell or the proposed price range for its new IPO filing.
Based in Boston, Circle controls the issuance and governance
of USDC, a cryptocurrency pegged to the U.S. dollar.
The IPO is expected to take place after the Securities and
Exchange Commission completes its review process, subject to
market and other conditions, the company said.
The company had previously said it was valued at $9 billion,
in a 2022 deal to go public via a special-purpose acquisition
company. It ended that deal in December 2022. Circle CEO Jeremy
Allaire said at the time that he was disappointed that the
proposed transaction “timed out,” but that the company still
intended to go public.
USDC is the second-biggest stablecoin, after Tether, and the
seventh-biggest cryptocurrency overall, according to crypto
market tracker CoinGecko. The tokens are backed by cash and cash
equivalents, including short-term Treasury bonds.
There are around $25 billion worth of USDC tokens in
circulation, down from a peak above $56 billion in mid-2022,
according to CoinGecko.
After a period of rapid growth, the crypto industry slumped
in 2022 and token prices dropped as investors grew more cautious
and various high-profile crypto firms collapsed, including
crypto exchange FTX.
Circle announced layoffs in July 2023 and said it had ended
investments in non-core business areas.
Circle’s move to become a publicly-traded company comes
after a prolonged slump in dealmaking amid high interest rates
and market volatility. Clearing firm Apex Fintech confidentially
filed for a U.S. IPO in December. Apollo-owned Aspen Insurance
has also said it is considering a public offering in 2024.
(Reporting by Elizabeth Howcroft in London and Hannah Lang in
Washington)
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