The American investment firm Ark Invest, led by Cathie Wood, invested $373.4 million to acquire nearly 4.5 million shares of Circle during the company’s debut on the New York Stock Exchange on June 6, 2025. The new assets were distributed among three funds: Innovation (ARKK), Next Generation Internet (ARKW), and Fintech Innovation (ARKF).
This is reported by Business • Media
Circle debuts on the exchange and shows rapid growth
Circle, the world’s second-largest issuer of stablecoins with a market capitalization of $61 billion, became a public company under the ticker CRCL. On its first day of trading, Circle’s shares surged nearly 200%, reaching a peak of $96, and closed at $83.23, which is 168.5% above the initial offering price ($31). The company now ranks second in volume only to Tether, which has a market capitalization of $154.2 billion.
“Our transformation into a public company is a significant and powerful milestone. The world is ready for a transition to an internet financial system,” said Circle co-founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire.
Ark Invest’s portfolio reallocation
To make this investment, Ark Invest partially liquidated assets in companies such as Coinbase, Robinhood, and Block, as well as sold a portion of its own spot Bitcoin ETF (ARKB). Specifically, the following was liquidated:
- 161,304 shares of Coinbase for $39.4 million;
- 255,327 shares of Robinhood for $18.5 million;
- 163,304 shares of Block (Dorsey’s company) for $10.4 million;
- assets from the ARKB ETF for $17.1 million, while the ETF remains among the fund’s main holdings.
After the transaction, Circle’s shares entered the top 10 assets in Ark Invest’s fund portfolios: they ranked 10th in the ARKK fund (4.4% of the portfolio — $251.8 million), 8th in ARKW (4.4% — $77.2 million), and 7th in ARKF (4.3% — $44.5 million). The largest positions remain Tesla (10.3%), ARKB ETF (8.2%), and Shopify (9%).
During the initial public offering, Circle raised $1.1 billion, and its market valuation reached $6.9 billion.