This year has arguably been the biggest and most influential year for crypto IPOs in history.
Rising retail interest, new political tailwinds, and the reopening of the U.S. IPO market have prompted a wave of crypto companies to enter public exchanges. Reuters He said that the resurgence of cryptocurrencies this year has led to a “rush for Wall Street IPOs.” Barons reported that the cryptocurrency flotation is “sparking Wall Street into a frenzy.”
This backdrop has set the stage for an unusually crowded IPO calendar, with companies ranging from exchanges to stablecoin issuers vying to tap into the public market.
For a long time, the industry’s only big IPO win was Coinbase’s Nasdaq debut in 2021. In the years since then, many crypto companies have attempted to go public via SPACs (special acquisition purpose companies), but they have not always been successful. A SPAC is a publicly traded shell company that raises money from investors and goes public by merging with a private company without a traditional IPO.
Two notable IPOs in 2025, USDC issuer Circle and crypto exchange Bullish, preceded such efforts.
Circle initially sought to go public in 2021 through a merger with Concord Acquisition Corporation. The deal would have valued the company at up to $9 billion, but was canceled at the end of 2022 after repeated delays and changing market conditions.
When Circle finally listed on the New York Stock Exchange this year, it was so popular among investors that the NYSE suspended trading three times within the first hour. However, the company feels its momentum is slowing as the Federal Reserve lowers interest rates, which investors fear will impact the interest they earn on the cash reserves backing the USDC stablecoin.
“We believe the Circle IPO will lead the IPO market this year,” New York Stock Exchange President Lynn Martin said at the time, “and it’s not just the listing of cryptocurrencies.”
The company’s bullish stock price soared when it went public in August. This cryptocurrency exchange has a SPAC backstory similar to Circle. The company announced it would go public in 2021, but halted trading at the end of 2022, citing “time constraints and market conditions.”
Trading platform eToro is not technically a cryptocurrency company, but its valuation soared to $5.4 billion after its Nasdaq debut in May. The company had scaled back its cryptocurrency offerings after settling with the SEC in 2024. However, as of this writing, there are 82 different crypto assets listed.
However, not all companies that considered going public this year crossed the finish line. Prime crypto brokerage firm FalconX is rumored to be considering an IPO, anonymous sources said. decryption. However, by the end of the year, there had been no formal approval of these plans and no documents had been filed with the SEC.
Meanwhile, Kraken filed for an IPO after completing an $800 million raise in November. The cryptocurrency exchange is currently valued at $20 billion. The company has already indicated that it wants to trade its shares quickly and said it plans to go public once the SEC review process is complete and subject to market conditions.
Some people stand on the starting line. BitGo, Grayscale, Blockchain.com and others have considered or openly discussed IPO plans as market conditions improve.
If 2025 marks the industry’s return to public markets, the ground could be set for an even larger class of crypto IPOs next year.
