Bullish Boosts U.S. IPO Target to Nearly $5 Billion Valuation

Crypto exchange Bullish has increased the size of its planned U.S. initial public offering, now targeting a valuation of up to $4.82 billion amid persistent investor appetite for digital asset plays.

The Peter Thiel-backed company said Monday it will offer 30 million shares at a price range of $32 to $33 apiece, seeking to raise as much as $990 million. That’s a bigger deal than its earlier plan to sell 20.3 million shares priced between $28 and $31.

Bullish intends to list on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker BLSH.

J.P. Morgan, Jefferies, and Citigroup are leading the underwriting for the offering.

Bullish is making its second attempt to go public after calling off a $9 billion SPAC merger in 2022, citing regulatory headwinds. This IPO is a steep discount from that earlier valuation, nearly 50% lower at the top of the new range.

CEO Tom Farley, a former president of the New York Stock Exchange, said in the IPO filing that Bullish is going public now because the crypto industry is entering a new growth phase. “We also believe that becoming a publicly traded company provides our business with key benefits: additional credibility with partners, counterparties and regulators; access to capital; and an equity currency with which to make strategic acquisitions,” Farley wrote.

Bullish runs a crypto exchange for institutional clients and is licensed in the U.S., Germany, Hong Kong, and Gibraltar. It also owns CoinDesk, the crypto media outlet it acquired from Digital Currency Group in 2023.

According to the filing, Bullish plans to convert a chunk of the IPO proceeds into U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoins, in coordination with one or more issuers.

The listing comes as crypto firms test investor appetite during a friendlier regulatory period under the Trump administration. That includes the recent GENIUS Act, which offers a basic legal framework for stablecoins and has helped fuel a wave of crypto IPOs.

Bullish’s filing follows Circle Internet Group’s blockbuster debut last month. Shares of the USDC issuer briefly surged more than 400% after its NYSE listing. Grayscale has also filed confidentially for an IPO, and Kraken is reportedly targeting a 2026 offering with a $15 billion valuation.

Founded in 2021 by Block.one — which raised close to $10 billion — Bullish counts Alan Howard, Mike Novogratz, and Japan’s Nomura among its backers. The company has over 275 employees, according to its website.