Circle’s private stock valued up to $5.25 billion on secondary market: report

Circle Internet Financial's privately held stock is trading between $5 billion and $5.25 billion in value in the secondary market, reports CoinDesk citing several people familiar with the matter.

Circle has allowed some of its shares to trade only in certain, limited circumstances, CoinDesk continued, adding that the sellers are likely early-stage investors or Circle employees cashing in their options before the firm goes public.

Circle submitted a confidential S-1 form to the Securities and Exchange Commission in January to take its equity services public.

The Block reached out to Circle for comment.

Circle's previous IPO attempt

In July 2021, Circle announced plans to go public by merging with Concord Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company, in a deal valued at $4.5 billion. Two months prior, the stablecoin issuer had raised $440 million from financial services firm Fidelity, Valor Capital Group, and the English hedge fund Marshall Wace.

A year later, Circle terminated its initial deal with Concord and penned new terms with Concord. By February 2022, Circle's valuation had grown to $9 billion.

Circle would again consider going public nearly a year afterward, with the goal of being publicly traded in 2024.

Circle is the issuer of USDC, a USD-pegged stablecoin that maintains nearly 21% of the total stablecoin supply, according to The Block's Data Dashboard. The token's market capitalization is at $33.6 billion, and its 24-hour trading volume is at $6.6 billion.