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Leading into this week, we had every reason to hope for positivity on Crypto Twitter — and within crypto itself. There was the promise of better crypto regulation on the horizon, a very successful Digital Assets Summits and, of course, M&A activity paired with a slew of crypto IPOs.
But the positivity didn’t quite make it out the gate.
Between Circle’s S-1 and then Liberation Day — and now, a potential pause on any IPOs — any momentum seems to have hit a definite speedbump.
Circle, in particular, didn’t have the best week.
It’s making a second attempt at going public — the first attempt was a scrapped SPAC merger during the days when SPACs were one of the sexiest ways to enter the public markets.
But after looking through its April 1, 2025 S-1, folks were quick to point out that Circle has to pay both Binance and Coinbase to boost USDC adoption, albeit in different ways.
Coinbase has a pretty sweet revenue-sharing deal where it gets a 50% cut. On the other hand, Binance was paid a little over $60 million in an upfront fee so that the crypto exchange would hold a portion of its treasury in USDC.
Binance also gets an undisclosed amount in a "monthly incentive fee representing a percentage of the amount of USDC held on its platform and in its treasury, which percentage ranges from an annualized mid-double-digit to high double-digit percentage of a fixed rate." Forward Guidance’s Ben Strack had some other takeaways from the filing.
The stablecoin issuer is reportedly eyeing a $4-$5 billion valuation, though PitchBook’s Robert Le told me earlier this week it could price higher…but that was before Liberation Day.
The tariffs announced by President Trump have forced multiple companies to hit pause on their plans to go public — and Circle is reportedly already mulling a delay. Which might mean other crypto companies (which reportedly include Kraken and Gemini) who were hoping to make their very own public debuts this year will have to take a beat as well.
We’re left a little in the lurch. While Liberation Day hasn’t been as painful for crypto as it has been for TradFi, it has managed to pause the industry’s momentum.
— Katherine Ross
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