Circle Goes Public—Here’s What Wall Street Isn’t Telling You About Crypto Stocks

Stablecoin giant Circle just hit the public markets—and the crypto sector is bracing for ripple effects. Traders are eyeing volatility plays while analysts dissect the 'real' exposure of traditional finance players diving into digital assets.

Bulls see a legitimacy boost; skeptics whisper about regulatory landmines. Either way, Wall Street’s sudden love affair with blockchain looks suspiciously timed—just as retail FOMO starts fading.

Circle Surges 260% After Historic NYSE Debut

Circle (CRCL), the issuer of USDC, made history as the first stablecoin company to go public on the New York Stock Exchange. After launching at $31 per share, CRCL surged over 200% to $100 on its debut and is now trading around $109.

The IPO raised $1.1 billion and valued the company at $6.9 billion, highlighting strong investor demand. CEO Jeremy Allaire called the listing a major milestone in Circle’s long-term mission to reshape global finance.

Following the IPO, ProShares and Bitwise filed proposals with the SEC to launch ETFs that track Circle’s stock performance.

These include a Leveraged ETF and an option income strategy ETF, both of which, if approved, are expected to go live by August. The filings signal growing traditional finance interest in stablecoin infrastructure as regulation advances and USDC’s market cap rises above $61 billion.

Retail investor momentum has played a major role in CRCL’s nearly 260% rally, drawing comparisons to recent IPOs like CoreWeave. It hit an intraday high of $123.49 before stabilizing.

Unlike other listings, Circle has strong fundamentals—$1.68 billion in 2024 revenue and $155.7 million in net income—mostly from interest on its $60 billion USDC reserves.

“Circle’s stock price has quadrupled its initial offer, an extraordinary moment that puts it on the heels of Coinbase’s historic $86 billion debut. With a projected valuation close to $30 billion, Circle is proving that stablecoins are now part of the core infrastructure for the global economy. I expect a strong wave of crypto IPOs to follow, starting with Gemini crypto exchange, which has confidently filed for an IPO in the last few days. Stablecoins are on track to facilitate over $10 trillion in transactions by 2026. That’s not a trend, that’s a transformation.” – Anil Oncu, CEO of Bitpace, told BeInCrypto.

Robinhood Drops 5% After S&P 500 Snub, Riot and MicroStrategy Also Slide

Robinhood (HOOD) shares are down over 5% in the past 24 hours after being left out of the S&P 500 index during its latest quarterly rebalance. The exclusion came as a surprise to many, especially after Bank of America had recently named Robinhood a top contender for inclusion.

Shares had surged over 13% last week in anticipation, but the S&P Dow Jones Indices ultimately decided to leave the index unchanged. The miss is a setback for Robinhood, which has rallied nearly 90% year-to-date amid strong performance in equities and crypto trading.

Robinhood $HOOD only down 5.1% ish overnight despite not making the S&P 500 index after being largely expected to…

Honestly expected the stock to go into the mid $60s and it might tomorrow when the market opens.

If we get into the $50s I may start buying. I like this name alot… pic.twitter.com/afmBrgJbwT

Riot Platforms (RIOT) is also under pressure, down nearly 3% in the past 24 hours. The stock failed to break and hold above the $10.20 resistance level and is now trading closer to $9.70.

Despite the recent dip, analyst sentiment remains optimistic—out of 15 analysts, the average price target is $15.73, implying a 61% upside. Still, the inability to sustain momentum above key levels may raise short-term concerns for traders.

Meanwhile, Strategy (MSTR), formerly MicroStrategy, is down almost 8% over the past month, despite being up more than 32% year-to-date. The company remains the largest public holder of Bitcoin, with nearly 581,000 BTC—valued at roughly $62 billion.

Strategy’s aggressive bitcoin accumulation continues to influence other firms, including Vanadi Coffee, a Spanish chain that recently announced a $1.1 billion BTC allocation. Vanadi aims to become a Bitcoin-first company, echoing Strategy’s playbook as crypto adoption deepens across sectors.