Catenaa, Wednesday, June 11, 2025-Japanese financial giant SBI Group confirmed it invested $50 million in US stablecoin issuer Circle during its initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the company said Monday.
The investment was evenly divided between SBI Holdings and subsidiary SBI Shinsei Bank.
Circle’s June 4 IPO raised about $1.1 billion through the sale of 34 million shares, with SBI reportedly purchasing 5% of the total float, according to Japan’s Nikkei newspaper.
The deal reinforces the expanding alliance between the two firms. Earlier this year, SBI and Circle launched Japan’s first regulated access to the USDC stablecoin through the licensed SBI VC Trade exchange.
They also created a joint venture, Circle SBI KK Japan, in a bid to boost USDC adoption across corporate and retail segments in Japan.
SBI joins a slate of high-profile investors in Circle’s IPO, including Ark Invest, which acquired shares worth $373.4 million. Trading under the ticker CRCL, Circle’s stock has soared since its debut, rising nearly 300% from its $31 listing price to $118 in premarket trading Tuesday.
That surge pushed Circle’s valuation to around $22 billion, according to Yahoo Finance.
Circle is the only major stablecoin issuer publicly listed in the United States. Its chief rival, Tether, remains offshore and dominates the market with a $156 billion market cap, while USDC trails with about $60 billion.
ProShares and Bitwise have already filed for CRCL-based ETFs following the IPO’s success.
