Bullish Crypto Exchange Raises $1.1B in IPO, Surges 84% in First Trading Day

Bullish, a crypto exchange backed by Peter Thiel, closed its first trading day with an 84% surge, following its $1.1B IPO that received over 20 times the demand for the shares offered. The stock saw a significant increase in value, reflecting strong investor interest in the company.

Cryptocurrency exchange operator Bullish (BLSH) closed its first trading day with an 84% surge, following its $1.1 billion IPO that received over 20 times the demand for the shares offered. The stock saw a significant increase in value, reflecting strong investor interest in the company.

The IPO, priced at $37 per share, opened at $90 near 1:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday, and the stock traded hands as high as $118 per share shortly after, a more than 215% gain. The stock was halted for trade due to volatility at least twice within the first few minutes of trading [1]. Bullish, which operates a crypto exchange and owns the prominent trade publication CoinDesk, priced its IPO at $37 per share on Tuesday, above the $32 to $33 range the company had expected in its second shot at making a public market debut [1].

The company raised $1.1 billion and valued the fintech company at $5.41 billion, based on the 30 million shares offered. Bullish first attempted to go public via a SPAC merger in 2021 that would have valued the company at $9 billion, but the deal fell through after regulatory scrutiny and Bullish withdrew its registration [1]. The company's debut rode the outsized success of recent go-publics like Figma (FIG) and Circle (CRCL) and serves as the latest sign that the IPO window remains wide open after a few challenging years for investors [1].

The crypto exchange and owner of the CoinDesk crypto media site reported its trading volume grew 78% year-over-year in the first quarter, with an average daily volume of $2.55 billion, according to its prospectus filing [4]. Bullish's main business comes from its Bullish Exchange, a digital assets spot and derivative exchange geared toward institutional-sized clients.

The public offering comes as the latest sign that Wall Street's prediction for a lethargic IPO market in 2025 was off the money. Through Wednesday, 2025 has so far seen 133 IPOs come to market worth more than $50 million, up more than 58% from the same time last year, according to IPO tracker and ETF operator Renaissance Capital [1].

References:
[1] https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bullish-stock-opens-at-90-surges-more-than-200-giving-crypto-exchange-market-cap-above-16-billion-133442772.html
[2] https://www.forbes.com.au/news/investing/crypto-exchange-bullish-surges-160-in-ipo-becomes-latest-wall-street-debut-darling/
[3] https://www.investors.com/news/bullish-ipo-cryptocurrency-blsh-stock-coindesk-peter-thiel-bitcoin/
[4] https://www.investopedia.com/peter-thiel-backed-crypto-exchange-bullish-more-than-doubles-in-trading-debut-11790066
[5] https://www.mitrade.com/insights/news/live-news/article-3-1036106-20250813