Wall Street Welcomes Institutional Crypto Exchange

Bullish has completed its initial public offering, with the company valued at more than $5 billion. The strong debut signaled that digital assets have firmly established a place on Wall Street.

Bullish operates a crypto exchange focused on institutional investors, as well as the trade publication CoinDesk. The IPO was led by Wall Street heavyweights JPMorgan and Citigroup. Asset manager BlackRock and Cathie Wood’s investment fund Ark Invest each expressed interest in purchasing up to $200 million worth of shares in the offering.

A Solution for Crypto Custody

Bullish holds roughly $2 billion in cryptocurrency assets, primarily in bitcoin, with smaller holdings in ether and some stablecoins.

The company has also established itself as a leading custodian for crypto assets.

In large part because of regulatory hurdles, custody has been a sticking point for the industry, and most of the asset managers that launched bitcoin ETFs did so with outside custodians. Bullish will now be providing a Wall Street-approved holding mechanism for banks and asset managers that do not want to develop their own custodial infrastructure.

Expanding Crypto Investing

The appetite for an institutional crypto exchange has surged since the SEC approved bitcoin ETFs in January 2024, with nine funds from major players like BlackRock and Fidelity quickly gaining traction. That momentum continued in June, when five ETFs tied to ether—the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency—launched.

The Trump administration has also taken a crypto-friendly stance, lifting regulations that prevented banks from holding digital assets. Most recently, it has floated the idea of letting future retirees allocate a portion of their 401(k) savings to crypto.

These developments have fueled record inflows into both bitcoin and ether ETFs.

Ether funds alone saw over $1 billion invested in a single day this week—smashing the previous single-day record of $726.6 million set in July.

Meanwhile, public companies are adding to the wave by increasing their crypto holdings. According to data from Bitbo Treasuries, ETFs and public and private companies together now control more than 13.5% of the total bitcoin supply.