Circle IPO Makes a Splash on Wall Street, Beating Airbnb, Robinhood, and Meta in First-Day Gains
CRCL shares quadrupled from their IPO price, marking one of the most impressive public market debuts in tech and crypto history.
This past week, Wall Street witnessed a historic event: Circle, the popular stablecoin issuer of USDC, went public on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and quickly created a “seismic” trading performance.
Circle’s initial offering price, with the ticker symbol CRCL, was $31 per share, but shortly after the market opened on Thursday, the stock price skyrocketed more than 167%, closing at $82.84. The frenzy continued into Friday, when CRCL peaked at $123.51, nearly four times its initial IPO price, beating records previously set by giants like Airbnb, Meta (formerly Facebook), and Robinhood.
Outstanding IPO Performance
To put that into perspective, Circle’s IPO is now outpacing every major tech stock offering in the past decade:
Airbnb (2020): IPO price of $68, up 112% to $144.71 on day one.
Robinhood (2021): IPO at $38, down more than 8% on day one.
Uber (2019): IPO at $45, down below $42 by the close.
Meta/Facebook (2012): IPO at $38, flat after day one.
Compared to those numbers, Circle’s nearly 300% 24-hour gain is unprecedented, especially for a company in the crypto space that has often been questioned about its sustainability by traditional investors.
Market Cap and Market Context
Despite its impressive IPO performance, Circle’s market cap is currently only around $19 billion, significantly lower than Airbnb’s $100 billion valuation or Facebook’s $104 billion valuation at the time of their IPO.
However, many experts believe that Circle’s potential growth value is what investors value the most. As the issuer of USDC, one of the world’s leading stablecoins, Circle is in a unique position as stablecoins become part of the mainstream financial infrastructure, especially as the US Congress considers officially legalizing stablecoins for a variety of financial purposes.
Stablecoin and DeFi Appeal
Unlike traditional tech companies, Circle operates in a completely new financial space where institutional investors have few opportunities to invest directly through public vehicles.
“This is one of the rare times where retail investors can participate directly in a company that is pivotal to the future of decentralized finance,” commented an analyst at Decrypt.
Circle attempted to IPO via a SPAC in 2022 but was unsuccessful. This 2025 launch not only demonstrates the company’s resilience, but also shows the market’s strong belief in the future of crypto and DeFi.
The Next Wave of Crypto IPOs?
Within 24 hours of Circle’s IPO, crypto exchange Gemini also confirmed its IPO filing, indicating a wave of blockchain companies preparing to enter the traditional financial market.
In addition, Bitcoin's strong recovery above the $72,000 mark at the same time further strengthened the market's confidence in digital assets, leading to the rise of CRCL and crypto-related stocks.
Conclusion
Circle has not only created a milestone for the cryptocurrency industry, but also for the entire financial market. With this spectacular breakthrough, CRCL is not only a symbol of the maturity of the blockchain industry but also the clearest proof that crypto is gradually "mainstreaming" and gradually taking over Wall Street.