Circle, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, has revealed its plans for an initial public offering (IPO), following a previous unsuccessful attempt. According to a recent report, the company’s previous bid to go public was hindered by regulatory concerns from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In July 2021, Circle initially announced its intention to go public through a merger with Concord Acquisition Corp, a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). However, the plans were called off in December 2022. Barron’s obtained 155 pages of SEC documents related to the failed SPAC merger, which revealed that the SEC had raised questions about the classification of USDC as a security. The SEC also examined whether Circle could be classified as an “investment company” rather than an “operating company,” which could impose additional business restrictions. Circle and the SEC corresponded on these matters for nearly a year. Securities attorney Xavier Kowalski analyzed the documents and concluded that Circle appeared to have addressed the SEC’s concerns and positioned itself to become a public company by October 2022, two months before the merger fell through. In January, Circle announced its second attempt to go public, this time through a traditional IPO. Circle and Coinbase co-founded USDC in 2018 and jointly managed the asset through the Centre Consortium until last year. In August, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire announced that the company would bring all of USDC’s governance and operations responsibilities in-house to streamline management of the stablecoin. Coinbase, the leading US crypto exchange, stated that it would acquire an equity stake in Circle. Coinbase became a public company in April 2021.
