Crypto Firm Bullish Soars 154% on Its First Day of Trading

Crypto firm Bullish soared 154% on its first day of trading.

Bullish, a cryptocurrency exchange operator that counts billionaire Peter Thiel amongst its backers, said its U.S. initial public offering was priced above its indicated range at $37 per share.

The offering raised $1.11 billion for Bullish based on 30 million shares sold and valued the company at $5.41 billion.

Bullish was earlier aiming to price its offering between $32 and $33 per share.

The share sale comes as IPOs are bouncing back following a dry spell for U.S. equity capital markets that lasted for more than two years.

Stablecoin issuer Circle Internet upsized its initial IPO in early June on strong investor demand and its shares have increased more than 400% since then. Shares of design software maker Figma surged 250% in its market debut just over two weeks ago.

With its listing, Bullish joins a burgeoning list of crypto players that have tapped public markets this year, buoyed mainly by crypto-friendly regulations under the Trump administration.

In July, U.S. President Donald Trump signed a law to create a regulatory regime for dollar-pegged cryptocurrencies known as stablecoins, marking a huge win for crypto supporters who have long lobbied for such a regulatory framework in a bid to gain greater legitimacy for an industry that began in 2009 as a digital Wild West famed for its innovation and speculative chaos.

Bullish, which is led by former New York Stock Exchange president Tom Farley, operates an exchange that offers spot crypto trading, futures and derivatives trading, and also owns media outlet CoinDesk.

It is expected to start trading on NYSE under the ticker symbol "BLSH" on Wednesday.

Institutional investors including BlackRock and Cathie Wood's Ark Investment Management have committed to buy upto $200 million worth of shares from Bullish's offering.

JPMorgan, Jefferies, and Citigroup are the lead underwriters for the IPO.