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Shares in Circle surge in NYSE debut

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Analysts say Circle is a bellwether for crypto IPOs

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Congress poised to pass stablecoin bill this year

By Hannah Lang and Suzanne McGee

June 5 (Reuters) - Stablecoin issuer Circle's $1.05

billion initial public offering on Thursday could spur other

large crypto players to follow suit as the industry benefits

from U.S. President Donald Trump's embrace of the sector,

according to experts and analysts.

Circle priced its shares at $31 on Wednesday. In a sign of

investor demand, they opened on the New York Stock Exchange on

Thursday at $69 apiece and closed at $83.23.

That trajectory is likely to encourage other crypto

companies eyeing stock market debuts. Circle is the first major

crypto company to go public since crypto exchange Coinbase

listed on Nasdaq in 2021.

Analysts have pointed to crypto exchanges Kraken and Gemini

as other potential IPO candidates in the digital asset sector.

Neither company immediately responded to a request for comment.

"It would not be surprising if other crypto companies follow

suit," said Jacob Zuller, an analyst at Third Bridge. "Public

markets have accepted that crypto is not going away."

Circle issues stablecoin USDC, a cryptocurrency pegged to

the U.S. dollar and designed to maintain a constant value.

Crypto traders use stablecoins to move funds between tokens and

proponents say they could be used to send and receive payments

instantly.

"We've had a deep conviction from the inception of the

company that we could build a new infrastructure for money,

built on the internet, that could radically reshape the utility

of money," Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said in an interview with

Reuters.

Circle's IPO success demonstrates that there is pent-up

demand in the public markets for crypto and other financial

technology companies, said Dan Dolev, senior analyst at Mizuho.

"If IPOs go wild, it's a good bellwether," he said.

NYSE Group President Lynn Martin went a step further,

calling Circle's IPO a positive sign not just for crypto

listings, but for IPOs in general.

"I see the Circle IPO as a bellwether for the IPO markets

this year, not just for crypto listings," she said.

Fintech companies have been warmly received in recent

months. Shares in retail brokerage eToro surged 34% in their

Nasdaq debut in May. Digital banking startup Chime is seeking a

more than $11 billion valuation when it launches next week.

Investment interest in digital assets "is coming from all

corners," said Sui Chung, CEO of crypto index provider CF

Benchmarks.

"There's a plethora of high tech and blockchain-focused

investment funds, and these vehicles have been starved of new

issues for a long time," said Chung.

After crypto exchange FTX collapsed in 2022, many

institutional investors shunned the digital asset market. Crypto

prices eventually recovered, and the industry got a major boost

when Trump professed support on the campaign trail, pledging to

be a "crypto president."

In his first week in office, Trump created a cryptocurrency

working group to propose digital asset regulations. In March, he

hosted crypto executives at the White House.

Congress is also widely expected to pass legislation this

year creating a federal regulatory framework for stablecoins

that experts say could pave the way for their widespread use.