UPDATED Bullish, the exchange backed by investor Peter Thiel, confirmed IPO plans as crypto firms increasingly seek to sell shares to the public.
Crypto Exchange Bullish Heads to the Stock Market with IPO Filing
21 July 2025 - 09:31 CEST
Bullish, which will use the ticker BLSH, has recorded a total trading volume of $1.25 trillion since it opened for business, according to its official March IPO filing. Bullish listed top competitors as Kraken, Binance, and Coinbase.
$2.5 billion daily vol
In the first quarter of 2025 alone, it executed over $2.5 billion in average daily volume, ranking in the top five exchanges by spot volume for Bitcoin and Ether.
Bullish, which emerged from Block.one, is supported by Thiel’s Founders Fund, Nomura, and Galaxy Digital Founder Mike Novogratz. The exchange also acquired crypto news outlet CoinDesk in 2023.
“We intend to IPO because we believe that the digital assets industry is beginning its next leg of growth,” CEO Tom Farley was cited as saying in a letter to investors in Friday’s filing. “We view transparency and compliance as hallmarks of how we operate Bullish, and believe those values align well with the public capital markets,” he said, according to Bloomberg.
Crypto heavyweights
The planned NYSE listing comes as a growing number of crypto firms move into the realm of traditional finance. Stablecoin issuer Circle has seen its valuation skyrocket following a blockbuster IPO, while Etoro, a trading platform geared towards crypto trading, launched in May. Galaxy Digital also moved its listing to Nasdaq, and Gemini confidentially filed for an IPO in June in the latest as leading crypto firms move closer to Wall Street.
Crypto custodian BitGo also announced that it will file for a confidential stock listing. BitGo, founded in 2013, stores and manages digital assets for institutional clients, providing infrastructure for safekeeping, compliance and transactions. The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the proposed offering have not yet determined, the company said in a statement.
Surging momentum
Digital assets continue to attract institutional investment, which has helped contribute to Bitcoin’s July surge to $123,000 and is fueling a rally in the major altcoins in recent days. Meanwhile, the US signed into law the GENIUS Act on Friday and its Congress is moving additional pieces of crypto legislation through its chambers.
