Another hot stock in the "crypto circle" has arrived, CoinDesk's parent company Bullish doubled in price during its debut on the US stock market

Following the stablecoin issuer Circle, another "crypto" newcomer listed on the US stock market this year made a brilliant debut.

On Wednesday, August 13, Eastern Time, Bullish, the parent company of the well-known cryptocurrency industry media CoinDesk and a digital asset trading platform, went public on the New York Stock Exchange under the stock trading code BLSH. On its first day of trading, the stock price doubled during intraday trading, becoming another popular "crypto" stock in the US market this year after the "first stablecoin stock" Circle.

Bullish's opening stock price was reported at $90, a 143% increase from the IPO issuance price of $37. The stock price later touched $118, with an increase of nearly 219%, and the company's market value soared to over $17 billion. Due to extreme volatility, the stock was temporarily suspended multiple times, closing at $68, with an intraday increase of nearly 84%, bringing the market value close to $10 billion.

The $37 issuance price for Bullish means an IPO fundraising scale of $1.1 billion, with the company's valuation reaching $5.41 billion. Moreover, the listing price far exceeded the guidance range, highlighting institutional investors' strong confidence in the institutionalization process of the crypto industry.

Heavyweight institutions such as BlackRock and "Cathie Wood" of ARK Invest have expressed interest in subscribing for up to $200 million in shares, providing a solid foundation for the issuance.

Bullish is led by former NYSE President Tom Farley and supported by tech billionaire Peter Thiel, focusing on serving institutional investors. The company owns the crypto news website CoinDesk, which has seen a total trading volume exceeding $12.5 trillion since its launch in 2021.

IPO Pricing Exceeds Expectations with Strong Institutional Demand

Bullish's IPO performance far exceeded the ideal increase standard of 20% to 30% on the first day of traditional IPOs.

The final issuance price of $37 was significantly higher than the adjusted guidance range of $32 to $33 this week, exceeding that range by 12.1% to 15.6%, and far surpassing the initial guidance range of $28 to $31, which is an increase of 19.4% to 32.1% compared to the initial range.

Bullish's CEO Tom Farley stated in a media interview:

"The last round of growth in cryptocurrency, which is the past decade, has basically been retail investors... and the wave of institutional investors has already begun. It has arrived; the question is just how big the scale will be. Based on the response to our IPO so far, institutional investors seem to believe that now might be that moment."

To prevent excessive stock price fluctuations, Bullish allocated about 20% of the issuance shares to individual investors, higher than the usual proportion of less than 10%. Before the issuance, the company had already received a total of $200 million in subscription intentions from well-known institutions such as BlackRock and ARK Invest, demonstrating Wall Street's strong interest in crypto trading platforms

The IPO Boom of Crypto Companies Continues to Heat Up

Bullish is an important player in this year's wave of crypto company listings in the U.S. stock market. In June, stablecoin issuer Circle successfully went public, raising over $1 billion, with its stock price soaring 168% on the first day. Additionally, Mike Novogratz's Galaxy Digital has moved from Toronto to Nasdaq, with the IPO valuation of stock and crypto trading app eToro reaching $5.4 billion.

Crypto custody startup BitGo and crypto exchange Gemini have also secretly submitted U.S. listing applications. This listing boom is attributed to the Trump administration's friendly attitude towards the crypto industry, with the president promising to make the U.S. the "world capital of cryptocurrency."

The U.S. IPO market has performed strongly this year, with the number of IPOs valued over $50 million increasing by 58% year-on-year to 133. This year, the average listing company has risen 25% from its issue price, while the average performance of IPOs over the past five years has been more than 20% below the issue price.

Second Listing Attempt Achieves Success

This is Bullish's second attempt to go public in four years. The company previously planned to go public through a SPAC merger during the crypto bull market of 2021-2022, with a valuation of about $9 billion, but the deal fell through after a series of crypto company collapses, including the FTX exchange crash in November 2022.

In 2023, Bullish acquired the authoritative crypto media CoinDesk from the financially troubled Digital Currency Group. As of March this year, Bullish's platform had an average daily trading volume of $2.6 billion, primarily providing digital asset spot and derivatives trading services to institutional clients.

The company has received support from well-known investors such as Peter Thiel's Founders Fund and hedge fund manager Louis Bacon. Farley stated that as Bitcoin continues to hit new highs and the regulatory environment improves, "the market is pricing in the potential for blockchain technology to drive major global financial businesses."