Following the collapse of a SPAC agreement with Concord Acquisition in late 2022, the USDC issuer Circle is attempting to go public once more.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) received a confidential S-1 form from stablecoin operator Circle, per a press release on January 11.
The draft outlines Circle’s intention to go public by issuing shares through an IPO.As of publication, the quantity and the range of shares Circle plans to sell have yet to be announced.
This is not the company’s first direct attempt at an IPO, but it is Circle’s second attempt at going public. Stablecoin company previously announced in 2021 that it had entered into a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) arrangement with Concord Acquisition.
This publicly traded company was established amid a bull run that year by seasoned investment banker Bob Diamond. By combining with Diamond’s Concord, the stablecoin supplier hoped to double its market value to over $9 billion.
The deal eventually fell through in late 2022 or early 2023, despite Circle having submitted an S-4 paperwork to the SEC at the time. According to Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire, the move was abandoned because his company needed to meet the SEC’s qualifying requirements.
When a business requests approval for fresh share sales, S-4 documents are filed. Allaire complained at the time about “an awfully long time waiting for approvals,” citing the SEC’s delayed response to Gary Gensler’s. However, the CEO insisted that Circle’s intentions to go public remained unaltered.
After Tether, Circle is the second-largest operator in the cryptocurrency space with the USD Coin (USDC) token. USDC, which is based on the US dollar, has a market value of more than $25 billion.
Despite this ranking placing Circle’s product among the top 10 cryptocurrencies globally, USDC’s market capitalization has decreased by about 50% in the last year.
In addition, the coin saw volatility in Q12023 due to various bank runs and a US banking crisis involving numerous enormous financial institutions, including Silicon Valley Bank. After over a year, Circle aims to increase its market share by growing throughout Europe and acquiring important licenses.
