Written by: 1912212.eth, Foresight News
In May 2018, investor Li Xiaolai boldly stated "Let's look at EOS again in seven years," and seven years later, EOS's price has dropped more than 40 times from its peak.
Ironically, Bullish, created by Block.one behind the EOS platform, will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on August 13, 2025 (exactly seven years later), with the stock ticker "BLSH", expected to start trading at 21:30 Beijing time on August 13. Through its core businesses - the institutional-level digital asset platform Bullish and the CoinDesk media platform, Block.one has become a key player in the crypto ecosystem.
Under the wave of crypto company IPOs, Foresight News will help you gain insights into Bullish from a data perspective.
Target Valuation of $4.8 Billion
Bullish's IPO pricing range has recently been raised to $32-33 per share, with the number of shares issued increased to 30 million, targeting fundraising of up to $990 million, with a valuation of around $4.8 billion. This is an increase from the earlier plan (selling 20.3 million shares at $28-31 per share). This adjustment reflects strong investor demand for crypto infrastructure, especially with Bitcoin price stabilizing above $110,000 and increasing institutional adoption.
BlackRock and Cathie Wood's ARK have indicated plans to purchase $200 million in shares. Bullish is expected to be priced this Tuesday and begin trading the next day.
Bullish was officially established in June 2021, with headquarters in the Cayman Islands and subsidiaries in Hong Kong, the US, Singapore, and other locations. Its core business is divided into two main segments: the Bullish exchange offering spot, leverage, and derivatives trading services, regulated in Germany, Hong Kong, and Gibraltar; CoinDesk focuses on index, data, and insight services.
As of March 31, 2025, the Bullish exchange supports over 70 spot trading pairs and 45 perpetual futures pairs, serving qualified customers in more than 50 jurisdictions. In terms of trading volume, the platform has accumulated over $1.25 trillion in total trades since its launch, with global spot trading market share for Bitcoin (BTC/USDx) and Ethereum (ETH/USDx) in 2024 at $284.8 billion and $144.5 billion respectively, demonstrating its competitiveness in the institutional market.
User growth is a key driver of Bullish's development. In 2024, its active institutional client count grew 36% year-on-year, with CoinDesk attracting over 55 million unique visitors and an average monthly user base of 10.7 million. CoinDesk's index products manage AUM of over $41 billion, with related trading volumes reaching $15 billion (as of June 30, 2025). Bullish is not only focusing on trading infrastructure but also building an ecosystem through media and data services.
Financial performance further supports its growth momentum. According to SEC F-1 filing, full-year net income for 2024 was $80 million, with non-IFRS adjusted EBITDA of $52 million. However, the first quarter of 2025 recorded a net loss of $349 million, mainly due to digital asset price fluctuations and operating costs. But adjusted net income was still $2 million, indicating stable core business profitability.
Preliminary estimates for the second quarter show total revenue between $60-62 million, adjusted EBITDA of $10-14 million, and net income ranging from -$2 million to $6 million. Revenue sources are diverse, including trading fees, spreads, licensing fees, and advertising, with adjusted trading revenue for the second quarter of 2025 estimated at $56-58 million.
Holding Crypto Assets Worth $3 Billion
In May 2021, Block.one launched Bullish Global and injected $1 billion in funding, including $100 million in cash, 164,000 BTC (worth about $9.7 billion at the time), and 20 million EOS tokens. External investors added another $300 million, including PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, hedge fund manager Alan Howard, and crypto industry notable investor Mike Novogratz.
The company's CEO Tom Farley, who previously served as NYSE president, has deep traditional financial market experience and is skilled at driving institutional-level trading platform development. David Bonanno is currently Bullish's CFO, previously CFO of Far Peak Acquisition Corp, playing a core role in capital allocation, business strategy, and key partnerships. Additionally, COO Sarah Johnson excels in compliance and risk management, having previously worked at the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, helping Bullish obtain regulatory permits in multiple locations.
The prospectus (Form F-1) discloses that Bullish plans to convert over 50% of IPO fundraising into US dollar stablecoins to enhance liquidity and hedge against crypto market volatility.
Bullish's platform Bitcoin trading volume in the first quarter of 2025 was $108.6 billion, growing 36% from $80.082 billion in the same period last year. Daily Bitcoin trading volume was $1.207 billion, up 37% from $880 million in the same period last year.
The prospectus shows digital asset sales of $72.89 billion, $116.49 billion, and $250.2 billion in 2022, 2023, and 2024 respectively; net profits were -$4.246 billion, $1.3 billion, and $79.56 million respectively.
As of August 2025, in a filing submitted on Monday, the company stated: it currently holds over $3 billion in liquid assets, including: 24,000 BTC; 12,600 ETH; $418 million in cash and stablecoins. At the end of the second quarter, liquid assets are estimated to increase to $2.05-2.15 billion, with net liquid assets of $1.499-1.599 billion.
Bullish's predecessor Block.one raised approximately $4.18 billion through the EOS ICO (Initial Coin Offering) in 2017-2018, one of the largest ICOs in crypto history, used to develop the EOS platform.
EOS tokens were long ago distributed to investors, and the continuous cash flow and income have been used to purchase Bitcoin and Ethereum. This investment alone has been extremely profitable for Bullish.
EOS failed to grow as widely anticipated, and whether the Bullish exchange built by block.one can truly succeed remains to be seen.
