Circle Internet Group (CRCL), the company behind the USDC stablecoin that went public last week, has quickly become the focus of crypto and financial circles. Just days after the company's shares began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on June 5, two separate issuers applied for a single stock ETF based on Circle shares.
ETF applications for Circle
Circle is the issuer of USDC, the second largest stablecoin collateralized one-to-one with the US dollar. With a market capitalization of approximately $61 billion, USDC ranks behind Tether's USDT, which has a market capitalization of $154 billion. Developed in 2018 in partnership with Coinbase, all issuance and governance rights of USDC were transferred to Circle in 2023.
Two ETF applications for Circle shares are noteworthy. One of them, ProShares Ultra CRCL, offered by ProShares, is a product that aims to invest in leveraged daily returns. If CRCL stock gains 5 percent in a day, this ETF is structured to return about 10 percent.
The other application is the CRCL Option Income Strategy ETF offered by Bitwise. This fund is based on the collateralized call option method, which allows investors holding Circle shares to earn regular income through option strategies. Both filings are scheduled to become effective as of August 20, 2025.
Circle's shares were priced at $31 in the IPO, but have risen as high as $134 since the start of trading and are trading at $117 at the time of writing. The company's market capitalization reached 25 billion dollars.
Investment from SBI Holdings
Meanwhile, Japanese financial giant SBI Holdings attracted attention by investing $50 million in the Circle IPO. The company's relationship with Ripple, one of its key partners in the cryptocurrency world, has long been known. SBI Holdings' investment together with its subsidiary SBI Shinsei Bank made it one of the largest shareholders in Circle's IPO. SBI is also actively collaborating with Circle to expand the use of USDC in Japan. SBI VC Trade was the first exchange to list USDC in Japan in March 2025.
Most recently, Ark Invest, the company of renowned investor Cathie Wood, also bought 4.5 million Circle shares.
The fact that Circle has been so successful on exchanges is a very positive development in the cryptocurrency space. For this reason, it is a matter of curiosity whether more ETF applications will come in the coming period.
