Peter Thiel-Backed Crypto Exchange Bullish Surges More Than 160% In IPO

Topline

Shares of Bullish, the crypto exchange backed by billionaire Peter Thiel, more than doubled their initial offering price Wednesday after the company raised more than $1 billion, becoming the latest debut on Wall Street to find initial success.

Trading was briefly halted for the Peter Thiel-backed crypto exchange as shares rallied well above its IPO price.

Key Facts

Bullish, which issued an IPO price of $37 per share, opened at $90 and peaked at about $118 before the stock pared gains back down to around $85 as of around 2:35 p.m. EDT.

An IPO for Bullish was priced early Wednesday at $37, above the expected $32 to $33 range and above an initial range last week of between $28 and $31.

Bullish, the parent firm of the crypto media outlet CoinDesk, raised $1.1 billion in an IPO that valued the company at around $5.4 billion, though its market valuation quickly surged to more than $13 billion shortly after trading opened and above $17 billion at its peak.

The New York Stock Exchange has halted trading for Bullish’s stock—listed under the ticker BLSH—multiple times, citing brief periods of volatile trading starting at 1:02 p.m., 1:12 p.m. and 1:18 p.m.

Who Are Bullish’s Major Shareholders?

Brendan Blumer, Bullish’s co-founder and CEO of the tech firm Block.one, was expected to hold about 30.1% of the company’s shares after its IPO, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Bullish CEO Thomas Farley will hold about 3.8% of shares, while CFO David Bonanno will hold 1.4%. Bullish board member Kokuei Yuan will likely hold 26.7% of shares, filings show. Investment firms BlackRock and ARK Investment Management have each expressed interest in purchasing as much as $200 million of shares at the IPO price, according to an SEC filing.

Surprising Fact

Bullish is the latest company to reach success after an IPO in recent months. AI cloud-computing firm CoreWeave debuted in March, and the company’s shares have since surged 210% on the year so far. Stablecoin issuer Circle more than doubled its IPO price in June before the company’s stock rose as high as $103.75, and the rally made CEO and cofounder Jeremy Allaire a billionaire. Last month, the value of Figma’s shares surged more than 250% after raising $1.2 billion in an IPO. That debut also made Figma CEO Dylan Field a billionaire.

Key Background

Bullish launched in 2021 under Farley, the former New York Stock Exchange president, with backing from Thiel. Trading volume on the platform exceeded $1.25 trillion as of March, according to Bullish’s IPO filings. Bullish was set to go public in a $9 billion deal with the special-purchase acquisition company Far Peak Acquisition Corp. in 2022, though the plans were later scrapped after the companies failed to meet registration requirements.

Tangent

The price of bitcoin jumped 1.3% Wednesday, sending the cryptocurrency back above $121,000 while nearing the $122,000 threshold once again. Ethereum, which has rallied 60% over the last month, increased nearly 3% to just over $4,700, putting the token within range of its all-time high above $4,800 set in November 2021.