Peter Thiel-Backed Crypto Exchange Bullish Nearly Doubles in Trading Debut
Key Takeaways
- Shares of cryptocurrency exchange Bullish soared in their debut on the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday, after an upsized initial public offering.
- Bullish’s launch comes after a series of strong crypto IPOs this year, pointing to improving appetite for new listings as major coins have climbed in value.
- The price of Bitcoin and Ether traded near record highs. They’ve surged this year amid optimism about a more crypto-friendly regulatory environment.
Shares of Bullish (BLSH), a crypto exchange backed by PayPal (PYPL) founder and billionaire venture capitalist Peter Thiel, soared in their debut on the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday.
The stock finished the day at $68, nearly double its initial public offering price of $37 per share, which topped its projected range of $32 to $33 that had been scaled up from $28 to $31 previously. At one point during Wednesday’s session, it jumped as high as $118.
Bullish sold 30 million shares in the offering, raising about $1.1 billion in proceeds. Its gains would give it a market capitalization close to $10 billion, based on the number of shares outstanding listed in a regulatory filing.
The crypto exchange and owner of the CoinDesk crypto media site reported its trading volume grew 78% year-over-year in the first quarter, with an average daily volume of $2.55 billion, according to its prospectus filing.
Bullish’s launch comes after a series of strong crypto IPOs this year, pointing to improving appetite for new listings while major cryptocurrencies have climbed in value amid optimism about a more crypto-friendly regulatory environment. The price of Bitcoin and Ether traded near record highs Wednesday, with Bitcoin hovering near $122,900 and Ether above $4,700.
UPDATE—This article has been updated with the latest share price information.