:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/GettyImages-2244502466-cdaaaff731334467b3fd09b6d990c196.jpg "2026 Is Expected To Deliver A ‘Supercycle’ Of IPOs. The First To Kick It Off Will Be Crypto.")
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Key Takeaways
- Crypto firm BitGo’s debut today follows a number of crypto companies that went public last year, including stablecoin issuer Circle, and the Winklevoss brothers’ Gemini.
- This year is said to be a “supercycle” for public debuts with possible mega IPOs from the likes of Anthropic and SpaceX.
This year is expected to be a big one for IPOs. A crypto company will kick things off today.
Crypto custodian BitGo last night priced its initial public offering at $18, implying a market capitalization of around $2 billion based on estimated total shares outstanding. The company is expected to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange later today using the ticker “BTGO.”
The upsized offering—shares priced above the indicated range—is an indicator of investor enthusiasm for new listings, and matches the initial buzz around last year’s crypto cohort. (Think companies like stablecoin issuer Circle (CRCL) and the Winklevoss brothers’ exchange Gemini (GEMI).) That’s a good sign for the conga line of companies waiting to debut this year, which includes potential mega-IPOs from SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic—some eyeing valuations that would land them in the trillion-dollar club.
WHY THIS MATTERS TO YOU
Investors tend to like IPOs, which under the right market conditions can offer excitement around big first-day gains. BitGo’s IPO is just the start of the expected lineup of companies to debut on major exchanges this year following a period of sluggish capital markets activity.
“We think 2026 is going to be a supercycle in terms of IPO activity,” NYSE President Lynn Martin said in an interview with CNBC earlier this week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. That activity, she said, will accelerate in the back half of the first quarter into the second.
U.S. unicorns including OpenAI, Stripe, and Impossible Foods have a high probability of going public, according to PitchBook’s recent report. The aggregate value of U.S. unicorns—companies with private valuations of at least $1 billion—was $4.3 trillion at the end of December, the report said, thanks largely to to enormous growth in the valuations of artificial intelligence companies.
Companies pursuing huge offerings and record-making IPOs will be “selective” about when they go public, watching markets to pick the ideal moment, according to NYSE’s Martin.
Signals of a positive reception for BitGo’s IPO diverge from the vibes in the crypto market, which has been stuck in a rut since October and was dealt another blow recently when a key bill that aims to set a framework to govern digital assets, was stalled in Washington.
The latter has weighed on shares of major industry companies such as Coinbase (COIN), and Circle in recent weeks. Perhaps crypto listings expected later this year—including one from the U.S.’s earliest crypto exchange Kraken—will lift the mood.
