Circle, the company behind the USDC stablecoin, made its stock market debut on the New York Stock Exchange this week and was quickly halted after its stock, trading under the ticker CRCL, more than tripled its $31 IPO price in early trading.
CRCL was halted three times in less than an hour under the Limit Up-Limit Down (LULD) rule. This happens when a stock’s price moves too fast, either up or down, in a short amount of time, triggering automatic pauses to calm things down.
Meanwhile, Circle’s IPO was already making waves before trading began. According to a previous report, the offering was oversubscribed, meaning more investors wanted in than there were shares available. That excitement helped push the company to raise $1.1 billion in its public offering rollout.
After the NYSE debut, the CRCL stock price surged over 200% to $103, more than 3x returns from the initial price of $31. This wild price action during its debut is similar to a recent event that also saw highly volatile moments in the market, such as when Gamestop (GME) was halted like nine times in a single day last year. This particular surge happened when Roaring Kitty returned to social media, which created a frenzy of trading.
“Our transformation into being a public company is a significant and powerful milestone” Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said in a tweet as he celebrated the moment. “The world is ready to start upgrading and moving to the internet financial system. For inception, we have been deeply focused on being trusted, transparent, compliant, ethical, and well governed .”
Meanwhile, Circle has been trying to go public since 2021. That effort was canceled at the time, but the company stayed active in the digital space regardless and has since continued to grow.
Currently, USDC has reached a market cap of around $61 billion, according to CoinMarketCap. tablecoins like USDC are different from regular cryptocurrencies. They are pegged with dollars as 1:1 and only created when people buy them. They are removed from circulation when redeemed, so their total supply makes it easy to track the usage.
Also Read: Circle IPO Skyrockets Over 200% on NYSE Debut, Hits $100
