The new stock in the cryptocurrency circle this week is the grand finale: Gemini's debut surged over 60% at one point, and the IPO was so hot that it was reported to have "lock-up" restrictions

This week's performance of newly listed stocks shows that as long as they are tagged with the cryptocurrency label, both Wall Street institutions and retail investors are willing to buy in. The well-known cryptocurrency exchange Gemini, which made its debut on Friday, once again confirmed this point.

On Friday, December 12th, Eastern Time, Gemini Space Station Inc. debuted on NASDAQ under the stock trading code GEMI, opening at $37.01, a 32.2% increase from the IPO issue price. It later surged to $45.89, expanding the gain to 63.9%, but then retraced most of the gains, closing at $32, up 14.3%.

Gemini's IPO issue price was $28 per share, representing a premium of at least 7.7% over the significantly raised guidance range. Based on the issue price, Gemini successfully raised $425 million in its public listing, with a company valuation of approximately $3.3 billion. Based on the closing price, the company's market value is $3.77 billion, and the market value of the holdings of founders Winklevoss brothers increased by about $470 million in one day, bringing the total market value close to $2.6 billion.

From the stock price trend, Gemini will, like the blockchain technology lending platform Figure that debuted on Thursday, end its first trading day with a double-digit surge.

This performance continues the strong momentum of cryptocurrency-related companies in the U.S. stock market. Against the backdrop of the Trump administration's friendly attitude towards the cryptocurrency industry and the passage of stablecoin legislation, investors have shown great enthusiasm for cryptocurrency concept stocks.

NASDAQ announced on Tuesday that it plans to make a $50 million strategic investment in Gemini, indicating increased confidence among institutional investors in the cryptocurrency industry. Media reports on Friday revealed that over 20% of Gemini's IPO shares were allocated to retail investors, including through online brokerage platforms and targeted placement plans for friends and family.

IPO Booms with 20 Times Oversubscription

Gemini's IPO demonstrated strong demand from investors for cryptocurrency companies. Similar to Figure, Gemini also received enthusiastic support from investors.

Gemini initially set a guidance price range of $17 to $19, but due to strong demand, it raised the guidance range earlier this week to $24 to $26, an increase of at least 36.8%. The final issue price determined on Thursday was also 7.7% higher than the revised guidance range, at $16.7.

Media reports on Thursday revealed that Gemini's listing received over 20 times oversubscription. Due to the set IPO fundraising cap of $425 million, the company ultimately sold about 15.2 million shares, which is 8.8% lower than the originally planned issuance of 16.67 million shares. If it weren't for the fundraising cap, Gemini could have raised a maximum of $433 million in this offering, which is 1.9% higher than the cap Goldman Sachs and Citigroup serve as the lead underwriters for this IPO, with Morgan Stanley also participating in the underwriting. The company and its shareholders granted the underwriters a 30-day option to sell an additional approximately 830,000 shares.

Losses and Platform Trading Volume Surge

Gemini was founded in 2014, with over $18 billion in assets on its platform, offering services such as cryptocurrency trading, USD stablecoins, digital asset custody, and cryptocurrency rewards credit cards.

Although investors are enthusiastic, Gemini's financial situation is concerning. Documents submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) show that Gemini's revenue has decreased this year, with losses sharply widening.

Gemini's total revenue last year was $142.2 million, a year-on-year increase of 45%, while revenue in the first half of this year was $68.6 million, down nearly 8% from $74.3 million in the same period last year.

Gemini's net loss in the first half of this year reached $282.5 million, exceeding last year's total net loss of $159 million, and the net loss in the first half of last year was $41.4 million.

The company's Chief Financial Officer Dan Chen stated that the revenue decline in the first half of the year was mainly due to the volatility of cryptocurrency prices, which is a common challenge faced by the entire industry.

However, Gemini's platform user activity and trading volume show a positive trend. As of the first half of this year, Gemini had 523,000 monthly trading users, a year-on-year increase of nearly 6%. Trading volume surged nearly 50% to $24.8 billion, and platform assets grew over 30% to $18.2 billion. The company's trading fee revenue accounted for more than 65% of total revenue.

Winklevoss Brothers Expect Bitcoin to Reach $1 Million in the Next Decade

Gemini's founders, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, expressed optimistic expectations for Bitcoin's long-term prospects in a media program this Friday.

Tyler Winklevoss stated that if Bitcoin can disrupt the gold market, he expects the price to reach $1 million within ten years. He said:

"We believe Bitcoin is gold 2.0, and there is still 10 times the upside from here. We are still in the very early stages."

The price of Bitcoin was around $380 when Gemini was founded in 2015, and now, ten years later, the price has increased more than 300 times. This Friday, during the U.S. stock market's midday session, the trading price exceeded $116,000.

The Winklevoss brothers are among the earliest Bitcoin investors and were among the first billionaires to significantly increase their wealth due to Bitcoin. They first applied to launch a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) in 2013, more than a decade before the first Bitcoin ETF was approved. The Winklevoss brothers also donated $21 million in Bitcoin to a Republican political action committee supporting Trump.

Cryptocurrency IPO Boom Emerges

Gemini's listing comes at a time of a cryptocurrency company IPO boom.

Stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Group went public in June this year, becoming the first stablecoin stock, raising $1.2 billion in its IPO, with its stock price soaring 168% on the first day of trading. Cryptocurrency exchange Bullish saw its stock rise 84% on its first day after going public in August, raising $1.1 billion Figure, which went public on Thursday, saw its stock price rise by 24%, raising $787.5 million.

The regulatory environment under the Trump administration has created a favorable atmosphere for cryptocurrency IPOs. The SEC had previously charged Gemini in 2023 for selling unregistered securities to retail investors, but has since withdrawn those charges this year.

Liat Shetret, Vice President of Global Policy and Regulation at blockchain analytics firm Elliptic, commented: "The recent wave of cryptocurrency industry IPOs reflects a significant shift in the U.S. regulatory stance, signaling increased confidence from regulators in the industry."

The momentum of the U.S. IPO market continues to warm up

This week, seven large companies completed IPO pricing and trading, indicating a continued recovery in the IPO market.

In addition to Gemini, four other companies went public on Friday. Legence Corp., an engineering company backed by Blackstone Group, had the largest IPO of the week, raising $728 million. Black Rock Coffee Bar raised $294.1 million, while Via Transportation and its shareholders raised $492.9 million.

According to media statistics, excluding closed-end funds and other financial instruments, the total amount raised from initial public offerings on U.S. exchanges has reached $28.9 billion as of this Friday, a 42% increase compared to the same period last year. Although still far below the record highs set during the COVID-19 pandemic, it shows a strong recovery momentum. The strong interest from retail investors has provided important support for the market's rebound.

Nasdaq's $50 million strategic investment in Gemini aims to provide clients with Gemini's custody services and to become a distribution partner for its trading management system called Calypso. This partnership demonstrates the increasing importance that traditional financial institutions place on cryptocurrency infrastructure