Circle IPO and the Current State of the Stablecoin Market

Circle Internet Group, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, went public on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on June 5, 2025 under the ticker CRCL. Due to strong demand, the offering was increased from 24 million to 34 million shares. Circle raised 1.1 billion US dollars and reached a valuation of 6.9 billion US dollars. The IPO was supported by banks including JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup.

for institutions Circle generated 1.7 billion US dollars in revenue in 2024, mainly from interest on U.S. Treasury securities. The business model is therefore highly dependent on interest rates. In the United States, the STABLE Act and GENIUS Act provide a regulatory framework for stablecoins. These acts define rules for reserves, transparency and licensing, and are comparable to MiCAR in the European Union.

Stablecoin market (as of June 2025, global) Total circulating supply: 251 billion US dollars USDC: approx. 60 billion US dollars USDT (Tether): over 150 billion US dollars across 14 different blockchains

Tether reported 14 billion US dollars in revenue and 13 billion US dollars in profit in 2024 with around 150 employees. Circle holds Money Transmitter Licenses in 48 U.S. states as well as a BitLicense in New York. Stablecoins are used in DeFi, to access U.S. dollar exposure, and increasingly in the tokenized real-world asset (RWA) sector. Traditional companies are entering the stablecoin space: PayPal has launched its own U.S. dollar stablecoin (PYUSD). Walmart and Amazon are reportedly exploring similar solutions.