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1.28%PTSD-Afflicted Crypto Investors Hit the Sell Button After Circle's Euphoric IPO
Coinbase's April 2021 debut marked what was then an epic price top for bitcoin.
What to know:
- Circle's IPO on the NYSE saw its shares more than triple from the initial price of $31.
- Bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies, however, experienced significant declines.
- The market reaction to Circle's IPO draws parallels to Coinbase's 2021 IPO, which preceded a major downturn in crypto prices.
Is it 2021 all over again?
Circle (CRCL) debuted to wild upside action on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday, its shares more than tripling from the IPO price of $31. The event was the culmination of a long journey for the USDC stablecoin issuer, which had been pursuing an IPO for several years.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
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For the crypto industry, it’s certainly a win — a sign of strong traditional investor demand and that under the Trump administration, crypto native firms really do have a path to going public.
But cryptocurrencies themselves weren’t enthused. Bitcoin
slid more than 2% to $102,800, its weakest level in about a month, while the CoinDesk 20 (an index of the top 20 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization except for stablecoins, memecoins and exchange coins) fell over 3%. Leading the selloff are tokens such as SOL, AVAX and AAVE, all lower by roughly 6%.It’s too early to tell whether the downtrend will persist in the short, medium or long term, but for industry veterans, it’s hard not to see shades of another crypto IPO — that of Coinbase (COIN), which took place on April 14, 2021 and marked a then-epic top of $65,000 for bitcoin. Roughly two months following the COIN debut, bitcoin had plunged nearly 60% to about the $28,000 level.
A sharp autumn bounce in prices did have bitcoin again re-claiming that $65,000 level, but the selling quickly took hold once again. A brutal bear market ensued through late 2021 and throughout 2022, with bitcoin ultimately bottoming at around $15,000. Bitcoin wouldn't reclaim a fresh record price until March 2024, nearly three years after the Coinbase IPO.
Read more: Bitcoin May Be Headed Towards a 2021-Like Double Top
Tom Carreras
Tom writes about markets, bitcoin mining and crypto adoption in Latin America. He has a bachelor's degree in English literature from McGill University, and can usually be found in Costa Rica. He holds BTC above CoinDesk's disclosure threshold of $1,000.
Stephen Alpher
Stephen is CoinDesk's managing editor for Markets. He previously served as managing editor at Seeking Alpha. A native of suburban Washington, D.C., Stephen went to the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, majoring in finance. He holds BTC above CoinDesk’s disclosure threshold of $1,000.
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