This past week may go down as a pivotal moment for capital formation in crypto: two significant deals got done —one the old-fashioned way; another assembled at “crypto speed.” First, stablecoin issuer Circle launched its NYSE IPO, raising over $1 billion at $31 a share in the largest crypto debut since Coinbase. The stock immediately shot up to $69 per share, and closed on its first day around $83, a staggering 168 percent jump, valuing the company around $18 billion. As of this writing, the stock has climbed further to over $100. By all accounts, this was a huge success and bodes well for future IPOs in the sector.
Meanwhile, Plasma, in a Tether-backed stablecoin spinout, raised $500 million in mere minutes on the Sonar platform with the sale filled in under five minutes across 1,100 wallets, with a median deposit of ~$35,000. There was no roadshow, no underwriter, no regulatory filing. Yet, it was one of the largest and fastest capital raises of the year, in any market.
These two events tell us something important: capital formation in crypto is not only alive and well — it’s happening everywhere, and all at once…but in very different ways.
Circle’s IPO brings visibility, regulatory compliance and broadens the investment base—to retail and institutional investors alike. It also clears the deck for more late-stage crypto companies to go public. To wit, both Gemini and Bullish have filed for IPOs quickly after.
As we have written before, a growing roster of publicly traded crypto companies is a win for the industry and for investors. Many institutions and retail investors alike want exposure to the growth of digital assets but can't or won't hold crypto directly. Public equities provide an on-ramp. Going public also brings transparency and greater trust. As Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire put it: "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."
Plasma’s $500 million financing stands in stark contrast to Circle’s traditional debut, offering a window into the future of how companies might raise capital – onchain, and peer-to-peer – while also harkening back to the ICO era of 2017-2018 of permissionless, permission-free (and disclosure-free) capital. But rapid raises onchain can also mean limited investor information, lock-ups, and few guardrails. Investors may find themselves long investments they do not fully understand, creating risks that resemble the ICO boom—where big winners and big scams emerged.
These two events—Circle’s IPO and Plasma’s onchain raise—highlight the divergent models for capital formation in crypto. Circle went the traditional route: listing on the NYSE, disclosing audited financials, and subjecting itself to public market scrutiny. That brings transparency, accountability, and broader access to traditional investors – all big positives.
Plasma took the opposite path—frictionless, rapid, and onchain. It enabled anyone with a wallet and conviction to participate in a high-stakes capital raise in minutes. It was global, inclusive, and fast. But it lacked the safeguards and disclosures that define traditional markets: no investor protections, no clear documentation, no clarity on token rights.
Rather than seeing these approaches as mutually exclusive, we should explore how to synthesize their strengths. Can we preserve the openness, speed, and accessibility of crypto-native capital formation while incorporating the rule of law, disclosure, and investor protection that traditional markets provide?
The answer may lie in clearer regulatory pathways, especially in the U.S. SEC Chairman Paul Atkinson recently stated that “DeFi represents a critical frontier for American finance” and called for “principles-based guidance that fosters innovation while ensuring market integrity” (
SEC remarks). That’s a shift in tone—and potentially, a shift in posture.
If regulators can provide clarity without crushing innovation, and if crypto protocols can embrace transparency without sacrificing openness, we may reach a best-of-both-worlds scenario: efficient, accessible, and trustworthy capital markets, built onchain.
June 12, 2025
