Bullish Soars 89% Above IPO Price Despite Rocky NYSE Debut

Wall Street's latest crypto flirtation just got spicy.

Bullish—the digital assets exchange that had traders sweating through its NYSE debut—just pulled off a stunner: shares slammed the door 89% above IPO price. Not bad for a company that spent its first trading day bouncing like a meme coin.

The whiplash rally: After opening with all the stability of a DeFi oracle attack, Bullish clawed back with institutional money chasing the 'digital asset infrastructure' narrative. Because nothing says 'mature market' like hedge funds FOMO-ing into exchange stocks.

Reality check: That 89% pop means early investors are sitting pretty—while retail waits to see if this is sustainable growth or just another case of 'buy the rumor, sell the news.' After all, when crypto meets traditional markets, someone's always left holding the bag.

Circle stock debuted at $69 per share on June 5 (more than double its IPO price of $31). Though the USDC issuer’s stock price peaked NEAR $300 on June 23, CRCL shares were trading for around $156 midday Wednesday. 

All’s to say: Where Bullish’s stock price goes from here is anyone’s guess. 

Led by former NYSE president Tom Farley, Bullish launched in 2021 with backing from Block.one, Thiel Capital, Galaxy Digital, Nomura and others. It offers a spot and derivatives exchange, as well as liquidity services; Bullish also owns crypto media company CoinDesk.

As of March 31, Bullish held $1.7 billion worth of bitcoin, $144 million of US dollar stablecoins, $28 million in cash and $55 million of ether and other digital assets.

The company’s roughly $1.8 billion in cash and crypto makes it one of the most well-financed companies in the space, noted Architect Partners VP Ryan McCulloch.

“By buying this stock, you are heavily invested in their future potential to invest this cash,” he told Blockworks.

McCulloch labeled Amber Group and OSL Group as the most similar public companies to Bullish, given that they are Asia-focused exchanges offering a similar suite of services. 

But Amber Group and OSL Group are trading at enterprise values around $600 million and $1.4 billion, respectively — significantly lower than the roughly $13 billion valuation Bullish went public with,  he explained.

“They get significantly more public exposure via the media business, which likely serves as free lead generation for the trading business and vice versa,” McCulloch said. “This is far different than any others and seems to provide a unique market positioning.”

Matthew Sigel, who manages the VanEck Onchain Economy ETF (NODE), also noted Bullish’s sizable Bitcoin treasury — enabling tighter spreads and “competitive positioning” in both spot and derivatives markets. 

“These capabilities can compound across trading, data and index businesses,” Sigel added. “In a bull scenario based on our internal modeling, there is a path to $600 million in revenue and $200 million in EBITDA.”More crypto company IPOs are expected in the coming months, as Gemini, Grayscale, BitGo and Figure Technology have confidentially filed draft registration statements with the SEC.

• The Breakdown: Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily.
• 0xResearch: Alpha in your inbox. Think like an analyst.
• Empire: Crypto news and analysis to start your day.
• Forward Guidance: The intersection of crypto, macro and policy.
• The Drop: Apps, games, memes and more.
• Lightspeed: All things Solana.
• Supply Shock: Bitcoin, bitcoin, bitcoin.