‎Circle has officially priced its IPO at $31 per share, raising $1.1 billion and valuing the stablecoin issuer at $6.9 billion - $8.1 billion on a fully diluted basis. The offering, initially pitched between $24 – $26, saw overwhelming demand that pushed the final price above guidance, with total shares sold rising from 24 million to 34 million. Circle's debut on the New York Stock Exchange under ticker CRCL comes as lawmakers prepare to finalize stablecoin legislation this August  - a regulatory wave Circle has anticipated for years. Holding a New York BitLicense since 2015, Circle has positioned itself as the industry’s regulatory poster child. Its flagship product, USDC, commands 24.5% of the stablecoin market with $61.5 billion in circulation, backed by a $53.3 billion reserve fund managed by BlackRock. According to reports, BlackRock is set to acquire 10% of the IPO offering, while ARK Invest expressed interest in purchasing up to $150 million in shares. Still, Circle’s revenue dipped in 2024 to $1.68 billion, with net income dropping to $156 million from the previous year’s $268 million - a reminder that even in crypto’s most mature corners, profitability isn’t guaranteed.

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‎While Circle steps confidently onto Wall Street, trader James Wynn - known in crypto circles as "moonpig" - continues to spiral. This week, Wynn lost 240 BTC, about $25 million, in a liquidation event tied to his second oversized Bitcoin long on Hyperliquid, a decentralized perpetuals platform. His entry price of  $106,066 was too ambitious, and with Bitcoin now near $105,000, his current  $82 million position at 40x leverage hangs by a thread. It's a repeat of his May meltdown, when a $1.25 billion long position collapsed, leaving his account balance at just $37. That didn’t stop him from re-entering the market days later with new bets on majors and memecoins like PEPE and Fartcoin, some of which briefly turned green - until he failed to take profit. Despite losses well over $100 million, Wynn insists he’ll “run it back.” Whether he’s a genuine trader or a character in a high-stakes experiment remains uncertain, but his downfall stands in stark contrast to Circle’s carefully scripted ascent.

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