Crypto Company Circle Makes a Strong IPO Comeback

Crypto company Circle made a significant splash on the New York Stock Exchange on June 5, marking a remarkable resurgence of tech IPOs since their peak in 2021.

Backed by notable investors Accel, Breyer Capital, and General Catalyst, Circle’s stock initially performed well but saw a substantial increase thereafter, skyrocketing to six times its IPO price and achieving a market cap of $42 billion. This rally has revived three years’ worth of stalled IPO aspirations.

This surge correlated with the US Senate passing the GENIUS Act, providing a federal framework for stablecoins tied to the dollar, which greatly benefited Circle’s stock valuation. Despite selling some holdings, its backers now possess around $8 billion in Circle stock.

Venture Capitalists Experience Exits After Long Delays

The tech IPO landscape experienced a standstill beginning in early 2022 due to rising inflation, increased interest rates, and heightened regulatory scrutiny in both the US and Europe. Consequently, venture capitalists found themselves with no clear exit strategy for their investments as major buyers pulled back.

However, the first half of 2025 has shown signs of thawing in the IPO market. Notably, June saw five tech IPOs—more than double the monthly average since January. Among these, CoreWeave, an AI infrastructure firm, saw its stock rise dramatically after a slow start.

Eric Hippeau, managing partner at Lerer Hippeau, acknowledged the long-awaited change, stating, “It’s refreshing… but we’re not sure it’s sustainable yet.”

The last significant year for IPOs was 2021, during which 155 venture-backed companies raised over $60 billion; however, only 13 IPOs occurred in the following year, followed by 18 in 2023 and 30 in the last year. Together, these did not even reach $14 billion in raised capital due to a significant slowdown after the Federal Reserve initiated aggressive rate hikes to combat inflation.

Major Firms Remain Private While Smaller Companies Go Public

While smaller IPOs, like Hinge Health and Chime Financial, managed to make it to market, none have matched Circle’s scale or rapid growth. Many leading tech companies, including SpaceX, Stripe, and Databricks, remain private, and firms like OpenAI still have no plans to go public.

Rick Heitzmann from FirstMark expressed cautious optimism, noting, “The IPO market is starting to open… we are preparing companies for the next wave of public offerings.” Some investors have turned to secondary sales to cash out before the IPO, while others await strategic opportunities, such as Meta’s recent acquisition of Scale AI that cleared shares for early investors.

Hope remains that future rate cuts may bolster the IPO market, although the Fed has not made any formal commitments. Conversations between US exchanges and the SEC about relaxing IPO rules have taken place, but no official announcements have been made.

Despite some delays in IPO plans, like Klarna and StubHub, who postponed listings due to tariff and geopolitical concerns, there is a growing sense of optimism. “There’s starting to be kind of light at the end of the tunnel,” said Eric from Lerer Hippeau, with the journey to recovery led by Circle in the crypto sector.