The stock of crypto exchange Bullish popped in the first few minutes after its New York Stock Exchange listing Wednesday, marking more evidence of demand for equity exposure in the segment.
Bullish on Tuesday revealed the pricing of its initial public offering of 30 million shares at $37 per share. That was up from a per-share price between $32 and $33 that the company anticipated in a Monday filing to the SEC.
BLSH shares opened around 1 pm ET at $90 — about 143% above the IPO price. Minutes later, the company’s stock surged to $118, according to Yahoo Finance data.
Led by former NYSE president Tom Farley, Bullish launched in 2021 with backing from Block.one, Thiel Capital, Galaxy Digital, Nomura and others. It offers a spot and derivatives exchange, as well as liquidity services; Bullish also owns crypto media company CoinDesk.
As of March 31, Bullish held $28 million in cash, $144 million of US dollar stablecoins and $1.7 billion worth of bitcoin and $22 million of ether, the Monday filing shows.
Bullish’s IPO comes about two months after stablecoin issuer Circle listed on the NYSE.
CRCL stock opened around $69 during its June 5 debut — more than double the upsized IPO price of $31 per share. The shares rose slightly above $100 that day before settling at $82 at market close.
Read more: Circle ends NYSE debut up 167% from IPO price
Though the USDC issuer’s stock price peaked near $300 on June 23, CRCL shares were trading for around $155 on Wednesday afternoon.
Industry watchers predicted Circle’s IPO would lead to more companies following suit.
Most recently, Figure Technology confidentially filed a draft registration statement with the SEC. Gemini and Grayscale did the same in June, while BitGo filed such paperwork last month.
Check out today’s Forward Guidance newsletter for more on Bullish’s NYSE debut.
This is a developing story.
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Source: https://blockworks.co/news/bullish-stock-surges-ipo-110