Crypto Firm Bullish Surges 143% in Debut After $1.1 Billion IPO

Bullish shares jumped 143% from the IPO price after the digital-asset exchange operator and owner of media outlet CoinDesk raised $1.1 billion in an initial public offering.

Shares of the Cayman Islands-based company opened at $90 each on Wednesday, versus an IPO price of $37 apiece, with shares climbing further before being halted. The offering had been upsized to 30 million shares from 20.3 million shares and the marketed price range was increased earlier to $32 to $33 apiece from $28 to $31. Bloomberg's Mike Regan reports.

Co-founder and board member Blumer, 39, is the largest individual shareholder with a 30.1% stake worth $3.4 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He’s granted call options to third parties on about 5% of his holdings, which could reduce the value of his position depending on the details of the arrangements, which weren’t disclosed in company filings.

Yuan, who serves on Bullish’s board, owns a 26.7% stake worth $3.1 billion.

A spokesperson for the Cayman Islands-based company, which is also the owner of media outlet CoinDesk, didn’t respond to a request for comment on the pair’s net worth.

Bullish is the latest in a series of crypto-related IPOs this year that have generated 10-figure windfalls for company insiders. Stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Group Inc. jumped 168% on its first trading day in June and has since added to those gains, bringing co-founder Jeremy Allaire’s net worth to $3.3 billion, according to Bloomberg’s wealth index. Brokerage app Webull Corp., which offers predictions bets on crypto prices and has said it plans to reintroduce crypto trading to its platform for US users this quarter, gained more than 500% in its first two days of trading, minting billion-dollar fortunes for both its co-founders.

Early Backing

Bullish was launched in 2021 with the backing of Block.one, another crypto business Blumer co-founded with early support from billionaire investors including Thiel and Mike Novogratz. Block.one raised $4.2 billion in 2018 from selling its proprietary tokens — called EOS — in what remains the largest initial coin offering to date. A subsequent stock buyback valued the firm at about $2.3 billion and delivered seed-stage investors returns of more than 6,500%.

Soon after Block.one’s initial coin offering, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged the company with selling unregistered securities. The parties reached a settlement in September 2019 in which Block.one agreed to pay a $24 million penalty without admitting or denying any wrongdoing, the regulatory agency said in a statement.

The EOS token currently trades at about 57 cents, down from its high of $18.87 at the time of the 2018 offering, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

When Block.one launched Bullish, it initially seeded it with about $10 billion in assets, including 164,000 Bitcoin. After operating it as a subsidiary, Block.one eventually reduced its equity stake to below 50% in July 2024.

Bullish has since become a major crypto exchange, handling $1.25 trillion in total transactions through March 31, according to a regulatory filing. It offers spot, margin and derivatives trading, with the latter two products offered only to non-US investors. Its chief executive officer is Tom Farley, 49, former president of the New York Stock Exchange, who owns a stake worth $437 million, according to Bloomberg’s wealth index.

In November 2023, Bullish acquired CoinDesk, a provider of crypto news and data, from Barry Silbert-backed Digital Currency Group in an all-cash transaction for $72.6 million.

Bullish has sold off a significant portion of the seed investment it received from Block.one. It still held more than 24,000 Bitcoin worth in excess of $1.7 billion as of March 31, according to a regulatory filing, as well as $144 million in dollar-denominated stablecoins.

--------

Watch Bloomberg Radio LIVE on YouTube

Weekdays 7am-6pm ET

Follow us on X

Subscribe to our Podcasts:

Bloomberg Daybreak

Bloomberg Surveillance

Bloomberg Intelligence

Balance of Power

Bloomberg Businessweek

Listen on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business app:

Apple CarPlay

Android Auto

Visit our YouTube channels:

Bloomberg Podcasts

Bloomberg Television

Bloomberg Originals