CRCL is the stock code of Circle, the second largest issuer of the USD stablecoin USDC, on the New York Stock Exchange. As a key piece of crypto financial infrastructure, Circle manages a large reserve of assets by issuing USDC, which is pegged to the US dollar at a 1:1 ratio (with a current market capitalization of approximately $60 billion), and invests the funds into safe assets such as short-term U.S. government bonds to earn interest income as its core revenue source. Its market share accounts for 29% of the global stablecoin market, second only to Tether USDT, and due to strict compliance audits and transparent reserve disclosures, has become the preferred channel for traditional institutions like JPMorgan to enter the crypto world. On June 5, 2025, it became the first stablecoin company to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange, regarded by the capital market as a milestone in the mainstreaming of crypto finance.
Circle’s IPO performance can be described as “phenomenal”. Its issue price was set at $31, raising $1.054 billion, but it skyrocketed 122% to $69 at the moment of opening, with an intraday high of $103.75 (a 235% increase), triggering three trading halts due to extreme volatility. Ultimately, it closed on the first day at $83.23, up 168.5%, with a market capitalization soaring to $18.4 billion (approximately 130 billion RMB).
The next day, the price of CRCL continued to surge to $107.7, with a market capitalization exceeding $21.6 billion. Behind the explosive growth is the frantic capital rush: the issuance was oversubscribed by 25 times, with BlackRock securing a 10% stake and ARK Invest purchasing $150 million worth of shares. The demand forced Circle to raise the issuance size and pricing three times, expanding from the original plan of 24 million shares at $24-26 to 34 million shares at $31.
After its listing, CRCL initially continued its upward trend, reaching a peak of $298.99 at the end of June (an 860% increase from the IPO price). However, a lack of profit support in the short term triggered a severe pullback due to valuation bubbles. As of July 1, the stock price fell back to around $181.29, with a single-day decline of over 15%. Analysts suggest that it may enter a technical adjustment phase in the short term, expecting fluctuations in the $150-200 range. The long-term trend will depend on two key factors:
Despite a broad outlook, Circle still faces multiple tests:
However, the policy tailwind may become the key to breaking the deadlock. The passage of the U.S. “GENIUS Act” clears obstacles for compliant stablecoins, and Circle is expected to leverage this to increase its market share from 29% to 40%. At the same time, it is exploring scenarios such as cross-border payments and tokenization of government bonds, promoting USDC from a trading tool to a bridge for financial infrastructure.
At the moment when the CRCL code on the NYSE trading screen jumped from $31 to $103, the century-old barrier between traditional finance and the crypto world collapsed. The skyrocketing stock price is not only a vote of capital for USDC, but also an endorsement of the transparent stablecoin model. And Circle’s true battle,
Quietly unfolding from the reverberations of the listing bell — how to ensure that the green code with a market value of 18 billion continues to shine amidst the interest rate cuts and the encirclement by giants. The integration of crypto finance and mainstream capital markets has taken the first step from the bridge of stablecoins.