A stable listing for Bullish, with US $1.15b paid in stablecoins from IPO

Bullish, the institutional focused cryptocurrency exchange backed by Peter Thiel based in the Cayman Islands, has received US $1.15 billion from its initial public offering (IPO) entirely in stablecoins. The company's shares now trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol BLSH.

On Tuesday, Bullish announced that the majority of the settlement was conducted in USDC, the US dollar–pegged stablecoin issued by Circle with Coinbase serving as custodian. Leading Wall St investment bank, Jefferies, as billing and delivery agent for the initial public offering, coordinated the stablecoin minting, conversion, and delivery process with issuers. Most of the tokens were minted on the Solana network.

In addition to USDC, Bullish also accepted a range of other USD- and EUR-denominated stablecoins including EURC, USDCV, EURCV, USDG, PYUSD, RLUSD, USD1, AUSD and EURAU (Tether’s USDT notably absent).

Bullish CFO David Bonanno emphasised the role of stablecoins as "one of the most transformative and widespread use cases for digital assets":

We view stablecoins as one of the most transformative and widespread use cases for digital assets. Internally, we leverage them for rapid and secure global fund transfers, especially on the Solana network. We believe our collaborations with the stablecoin issuers represented here, including their listings on our Bullish Exchange, demonstrate how the infrastructure and liquidity we’ve built at Bullish helps power their businesses.

Greg Tusar, VP of Institutional Product at Coinbase, highlighted the IPO's broader market impact:

Bullish’s innovative use of stablecoins in their IPO marks a significant milestone for the digital asset ecosystem. This achievement underscores the transformative potential of stablecoins in modernizing financial systems, and we’re proud that Coinbase’s custody solution is supporting this historic moment. With evolving regulatory clarity, including the GENIUS Act, leading businesses like Bullish are better positioned to unlock the full potential of crypto for businesses and consumers alike.

The move comes as global regulators accelerate efforts to establish clearer rules for stablecoins, highlighted by the recent passage of the GENIUS Act.

While Bullish's decision to receive IPO proceeds in stablecoin is no doubt good marketing, and makes commercial sense for an institutional focused crypto-exchange, the move signals rising trust in stablecoins and their expanding role in mainstream finance. It could also pave the way to traditional securities offerings on-chain, facilitated by stablecoins and tokenisation, showing how blockchain can deliver greater speed, transparency and efficiency to traditional markets. First published on BitsofBlocks.io and reproduced with permission.