USDC issuer Circle files IPO prospectus with SEC as stablecoin legislation looms

USDC stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Financial filed a prospectus for an initial public offering with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday, according to a filing.

This comes a day after the company said it had confidentially submitted a draft registration statement S-1 form with the SEC, which is a common approach for companies seeking to go public. The prospectus did not detail the number of shares to be offered or what the initial public offering (IPO) target price will be.

"For Circle, becoming a publicly traded corporation on the New York Stock Exchange is a continuation of our desire to operate with the greatest transparency and accountability possible," Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said in the filed prospectus.

The filing comes a day ahead of the House Financial Services Committee's plans to amend and vote on a bill to regulate stablecoins. A Senate committee already passed their own version, dubbed GENIUS, in March. Last week, World Liberty Financial, the DeFi protocol backed by President Donald Trump, said it plans to launch a stablecoin . 

Circle has previously consulted with advisers about a potential IPO, Bloomberg reported in November, citing anonymous sources. "While it’s not clear how much Circle would seek to be valued in an IPO, it was valued at $9 billion when it tried to go public in a blank-check deal in 2022," the report said at the time.

The issuer of the world's second largest stablecoin by supply, USDC, may not be the only large crypto organization looking to launch an IPO now that the U.S. government has swung considerably in favor of promoting the development of the digital assets industry. Crypto exchange Kraken is said to be considering raising $1 billion in debt ahead of a possible IPO, according to a report from last month.

"Since its launch in 2018, USDC, as the core of the Circle stablecoin network, has been used for more than $25 trillion in onchain transactions as of March 28, 2025," Allaire also said according to the prospectus. "Millions of end-users use USDC for payments, settlements, and as a digital dollar store of value."

According to Circle's prospectus, the company income profile has experienced some ups and downs in recent years, jumping from a net loss of $768.8 million in 2022 to a profit of $267.6 million in 2023, before then declining last year to a net income of $155.7 million.

"As of December 31, 2024, we had total liquidity sources of [$1,05 billion], which consisted of $751 million in cash and cash equivalents and $294 million in cash and cash equivalents segregated for corporate-held stablecoins," Circle also said.

Listed underwriters for Circle's IPO included several large investment banks like JPMorgan and Citigroup.