Circle Internet Group Chief Financial Officer Jeremy Fox-Geen said on Thursday, the day of the company's initial public offering (IPO), that this moment is not only a historic milestone for the stablecoin issuer itself, but also a cornerstone for building a "new internet financial system." Circle priced its IPO at $31 per share, giving the company a total valuation of approximately $6.8 billion.

"There is deep symbolism here," Fox-Geen said in an exclusive interview with CFO Dive. "We are currently in the heart of the traditional financial system—the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange. But what we are doing, alongside others, is working hard to build a new internet financial system."

The New York-based company, which issues the stablecoin USDC, officially began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday under the ticker symbol CRCL. In a LinkedIn post, Fox-Geen praised the company's achievements and its "core" position in this new system—"a system that reduces costs and friction for everyone," he wrote, "a system that unlocks new utilities, access points, and forms of innovation."

The Road to the NYSE

This IPO is the realization of a multi-year goal for Circle. The company has sought to become a publicly traded company for years. Prior to this public listing, Circle attempted to go public in 2023 through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) merger, but the agreement with blank-check company Concord Acquisition Corp. was mutually terminated due to running out of time. However, Fox-Geen told CFO Dive at the time that the company immediately began exploring other public listing avenues.

Fox-Geen told CFO Dive on Thursday that for the stablecoin issuer, the long-awaited public listing serves as an "accelerator" for its global business plans.

"We have customers and users globally, and we will continue to build more distribution partnerships on this foundation and attract more users worldwide," he said when discussing the company's plans after the IPO.

In the four years since Fox-Geen (a McKinsey and PricewaterhouseCoopers alum) became Circle's CFO in 2021, the company has achieved steady growth despite numerous challenges in the cryptocurrency sector, including the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in 2023, a decline in USDC circulation, and other headwinds. These details were disclosed in the prospectus filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on May 27.

According to the filing, the company's annual revenue expanded from $15.4 million in 2020 to $1.7 billion for the full year 2024 (including reserve income). For the full year 2024, Circle also reported net income of $155.7 million.

Fox-Geen said the company's headcount also increased significantly during this period, as Circle continuously brought in talent and expertise to prepare for the IPO and ensure it operates to public company standards.

"Circle has been audited for many years, but over the past four years... we have held ourselves to public company standards and have persisted in doing so to ensure we are prepared in terms of financial controls," he said.

Transparency and Trust

Circle's IPO comes at a time when the cryptocurrency sector, especially stablecoins, is gaining increasing mainstream support, while the Trump administration is taking steps to create a more friendly environment for industry companies. These measures include appointing crypto-friendly leaders to head agencies such as the SEC, and establishing a working group to study potential use cases for stablecoins.

Through the IPO, Circle is "holding itself to the highest standards, covering oversight, transparency, and trust," Fox-Geen said.

The company has maintained close relationships with regulators since its founding and has "always believed that money is a regulated business," he said. "All governments and regulators agree on this, so perhaps it is an obvious fact, and we have always strived to do things the right way."

Others in the industry echoed Fox-Geen's call for greater transparency and clearer regulatory standards. Dan Chen, the new CFO of cryptocurrency exchange Gemini Trust (founded by Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss), said in a recent interview with CFO Dive that regulatory clarity is the "cornerstone" of cryptocurrency.

The call for regulatory clarity comes as numerous global governments and companies are re-examining the potential use cases of stablecoins—cryptocurrencies backed by fiat assets such as the U.S. dollar.

For example, the U.S. Senate recently passed the "GENIUS Act," which would establish a regulatory framework for stablecoins, NBC reported. Meanwhile, the European Union in February approved ten companies to issue stablecoins in the region, with Circle among them, according to CoinTelegraph. Circle's USDC, which is pegged one-to-one to the U.S. dollar, currently has a market capitalization of approximately $61.4 billion, according to CoinMarketCap data.

"We are encouraged that global regulators are reaching a consensus on how to manage well-operated stablecoins, and that consensus largely aligns with how Circle operates," Fox-Geen said.

As lawmakers foster a friendly environment, Circle is also seeing "strong growth" in potential stablecoin use cases, which are expanding beyond the digital asset market (its "bootstrapping use case").

"We are seeing strong growth in cross-border payments, especially among small and medium-sized enterprises; at the same time, we are seeing the emergence and growth of utility in many other money movement use cases," he said when discussing the potential application areas for stablecoins.