Bullish bets big that this crypto bubble won’t burst

This is the latest evidence that the US IPO market has awoken from its long hibernation. Since April, shares in recent IPOs have comfortably outperformed stock market benchmarks. Other successful flotations include stablecoin issuer Circle, AI cloud-computing company CoreWeave and Figma, an AI-based design firm. There’s hope the action will spread across the Atlantic: since 2023 Britain has seen only five IPOs of companies worth at least £100m.

The rising value of companies such as Bullish and Circle suggests that what not long ago seemed an intriguing yet marginal sector is now entering the mainstream. According to The Information, there is more than $400bn in crypto stocks trading on US exchanges. Techno-optimists are rejoicing. Add AI and crypto together and you get a massive bet on future profits, largely unsupported by hard evidence of business models capable of delivering them. If this turns out to be a house of cards, the financial system is now seriously exposed.

Photograph by Richard Drew/AP