While bitcoin experienced a choppy ride on Friday, Circle Internet Group’s stock, CRCL, leapt another 22% during the day’s session. In just the last fifteen days—or ten trading sessions on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)—CRCL has skyrocketed 674% in value. Kicking off at $31 per share on June 5, CRCL has been snapped up with intense interest ever since. By the close of Friday, June 20, the stock had racked up ten trading days on Wall Street, soaring 674% against the U.S. dollar. It’s easily been the top-performing crypto-related stock over the past two weeks, maintaining its momentum despite the ongoing geopolitical ripples and macroeconomic noise swirling across global markets.
Palihapitiya's Critique of Traditional IPOs
On X, venture capitalist and entrepreneur Chamath Palihapitiya weighed in on CRCL’s meteoric rise. “This was what I was hoping to fix with SPACs,” he posted. “You may not like SPAC founder promotes or other forms of value transfer to intermediaries but you can never claim it wasn’t disclosed. The Circle IPO, and ALL traditional IPOs, are the opposite. Value is transferred to randoms and it makes no sense,” Palihapitiya added.
Palihapitiya claims Circle had no choice but to offload 14.4 million shares at $31 apiece, netting $446 million—only to watch those same shares balloon to $3.456 billion in short order. In his view, this $3 billion windfall didn’t go to the company’s team or backers but was instead funneled into the pockets of investment banks’ favorite clients. He draws a clear line between this and SPACs or direct listings, which, he argues, come with terms that are openly laid out and can be tailored to benefit both buyers and sellers.
“And the media acts along by writing headlines to tell you how a ‘first day pop’ is a good sign. It’s not. It means the deal was mispriced and banks were able to reward their best customers completely unrelated to the company in question with free stock.”
A user replied to Palihapitiya’s post on X, saying, “Both IPOs and SPACs are at least better than staying private forever though.” Palihapitiya responded with a simple agreement, calling it “also true.”
Coinbase's Direct Listing as a Contrast
While Circle follows a traditional IPO route, Coinbase Global, Inc. (COIN) opted for a direct listing in 2021. When COIN hit the market, Nasdaq pegged a reference price of $250 per share—but public trading kicked off well above that, with charts showing an opening price north of $340. Fast forward two weeks to April 29, 2021, and the stock closed at $294.53. In contrast to CRCL’s explosive debut, COIN slipped 13.37% over the same span. The direct listing model avoids underwriter pricing and allocation, potentially eliminating the massive first-day pop that Palihapitiya criticizes.
While Coinbase operates as a crypto exchange, Circle plays a heavyweight role in the stablecoin world—and now, Wall Street’s getting its first taste of that space through Circle’s debut. CRCL’s surge highlights strong investor appetite for stablecoin infrastructure. Moreover, Coinbase and Circle share a special alliance through USDC, and when one wins, the other doesn’t trail far behind. The debate over IPO versus alternative listing methods continues to intensify, with CRCL’s case providing fresh ammunition for critics of traditional underwriting.