By Ateev Bhandari and Atharva Singh

Aug 13 (Reuters) - Bullish's shares were

indicated to open more than 75% above their initial public

offering price on Wednesday, signaling growing investor

confidence in the sector and boosting prospects for future U.S.

listings by other digital asset firms.

If the billionaire venture capitalist Peter Thiel-backed

crypto exchange starts to trade at the last indicated range of

$60 to $65 on the NYSE, it could potentially value the company

at more than $9.5 billion.

Bullish raised $1.11 billion in an IPO priced at $37 apiece,

valuing it at $5.4 billion and marking another sign of

mainstream adoption in a sector that recently topped $4

trillion.

"Bullish came out with an attractive initial valuation, and

investors responded by aggressively bidding it up during the

pre-IPO process," said Jeff Zell, senior research analyst at IPO

Boutique.

A string of regulatory wins under a pro-crypto White House,

corporate treasury adoption, and ETF inflows have prompted

investors to embrace the once-scorned digital asset class,

driving bellwether bitcoin to record highs.

Several crypto firms, including exchange Gemini and asset

manager Grayscale, have also confidentially filed to go public.

"Crypto is becoming one of the big pillars of the IPO

market, with more deals expected not only via IPO but also

through de-SPAC transactions," IPOX CEO Josef Schuster said,

referring to take-public blank-check mergers that are frequently

used by crypto firms.

Bullish, which acquired cryptocurrency website CoinDesk in

2023, plans to convert a significant portion of the IPO proceeds

to stablecoins - a slice of the crypto space that has boomed

since U.S. President Donald Trump signed the Genius Act,

creating a regulatory regime for the dollar-pegged

cryptocurrencies.

INSTITUTIONAL FOCUS

Bullish's debut marks a rare U.S. listing by a crypto

exchange, joining larger retail-focused rival Coinbase,

which became the first crypto player to be included in the

benchmark S&P 500 index in May.

Founded in 2020, Bullish targets institutional clients whose

crypto holdings are expected to rise as a new White House order

aims to allow alternative investments like crypto in 401(k)

retirement plans.

"A pure institutional strategy positions Bullish for more

stable, recurring revenue than exchanges reliant on retail

volumes, which tend to be cyclical and sentiment-driven," said

Michael Hall, co-chief investment officer and founding partner

at Nickel Digital Asset Management.

Bullish CEO Tom Farley had previously worked as the

president of NYSE.

"For a sector still overcoming reputational headwinds, that

kind of leadership experience can be a differentiator in

securing institutional mandates," Hall said.