Bullish Soars 83% on IPO Debut—Crypto Traders Cheer While Wall Street Scratches Its Head
Talk about making an entrance. Bullish—the crypto exchange that had institutional investors whispering for months—just pulled off a first-day moonshot worthy of a meme coin.
The numbers don't lie (for once)
That 83% pop wasn't some illiquid microcap pump. This was real money chasing real infrastructure—or at least the promise of it. Traders piled in like it was 2021, while traditional finance guys muttered about 'valuation disconnect' between sips of their $9 oat milk lattes.
What's fueling the frenzy?
Could be the exchange's deep liquidity pools. Might be the institutional-grade compliance docs thicker than a Bitcoin whitepaper. Or maybe everyone just loves betting against the SEC these days.
The cynical take
Let's be real—83% moves reek of either genius or desperation. Either Bullish cracked the code on crypto exchanges (doubtful), or this is just another case of 'throw money at anything with a blockchain slide deck' (warmer). Either way, grab popcorn—this volatility isn't done yet.
Bullish sees strong debut after netting $1.1 billion in IPO
Crypto exchange Bullish ended its premiere trading day on a high note following its IPO on Wednesday. The company's stock debuted at $90 on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), rising to a high of $118 before closing the day at $68. This marks an 83% increase from its IPO price of $37.
The exchange reportedly raised $1.11 billion by pricing 30 million shares at $37, above its expected range of $32–$33. This gave the company a market value of $9.9 billion at the close of trading.
Backed by billionaire investor Peter Thiel, Bullish is a crypto exchange providing spot, margin, and derivatives trading targeted at institutional investors. The company said it has processed a total of $1.25 trillion in trading volumes by March, since it launched in 2021.
Bullish was co-founded by Block.one CEO, Brendan Blumer, who reportedly owns 30.1% of shares. The company first attempted to go public in 2021 through a SPAC merger but backed out due to a harsh regulatory environment at the time.
"We now intend to IPO because we believe that the digital assets industry is beginning its next leg of growth," said Bullish CEO and former NYSE President Thomas Farley, prior to its IPO on Tuesday.
Bullish joins a wave of companies capitalizing on the regulatory shift toward cryptocurrencies under President Trump's administration. US Dollar-backed USDC stablecoin issuer Circle made a strong market debut in June, with an $18.4 billion market cap on its first day pf trading. Galaxy Digital also switched from the Toronto to the Nasdaq exchange, while stock and crypto trading app eToro went public with a $5.4 billion valuation in July.
Bullish's stock continued its rally in after-hours trading on Wednesday, rising 11% to $75.
