Crypto exchange Bullish (BLSH), which also owns CoinDesk, delivered one of the year’s most striking debuts on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). On August 13, the stock surged as much as 218.91% to $118 during its first day of trading, before closing up 83.78% at $68 per share. This put its market capitalization at $9.9 billion.
Strong Post-IPO Momentum
On August 14 pre-market trading, Bullish shares climbed another 12.48% to $76.49, doubling in value from the IPO price.
The company raised $1.1 billion in its initial public offering, selling 30 million shares at $37 each — valuing the firm at $5.4 billion at the open. Investor demand outstripped supply 20 times over, leaving roughly a third of orders unfilled. Due to this high demand, Bullish increased the offering size and raised its IPO price range from $32–33 to $37.
The Players Behind the Deal
IPO underwriters included JPMorgan Chase, Jefferies Financial Group, and Citigroup. Notable buyers were BlackRock and ARK Investment Management, which together purchased up to $200 million worth of shares at the IPO price.
Key shareholders include:
- Brendan Blumer, co-founder and CEO of Block.one — 30.1% stake
- Cocui Yuan, board member — 26.7% stake
Bullish Strategy: Not a Bitcoin Proxy
CEO Tom Farley stressed that trust is critical in crypto, particularly in the institutional segment. He believes a NYSE listing will strengthen the exchange’s credibility.
As of March 31, Bullish held $1.7 billion in crypto assets, including Bitcoin. However, the company does not plan to emulate MicroStrategy by directly tying its valuation to BTC’s price:
“In some sense, we’re a Bitcoin treasury, but not in the conventional way. We won’t be aggressively growing BTC reserves or taking on debt solely to buy Bitcoin. But we remain open to all financing options,” Farley told Bloomberg.
Second Attempt to Go Public
This marks Bullish’s second push for a public listing. In 2021, the company planned a SPAC merger that could have valued it at around $9 billion, but the deal was called off in 2022.
Information link: minfin.