Laura Katherine Mann, a partner at global law firm White & Case, calls 2025 the “test year” for cryptocurrency initial public offerings, but says 2026 is the real test point: the year the market figures out whether digital asset IPOs are a “durable asset class” or simply a cyclical operation that only works when prices soar.
2025 was a busy year for crypto companies going public. Stablecoin issuer Circle (CRCL) listed in June, followed by CoinDesk owner Bullish (BLSH) in August, and crypto exchange Gemini (GEMI) in September.
Potential candidates for next year include South Korean crypto exchange Upbit, top broker FalconX, and blockchain analysis company Chainanalysis. Asset manager Grayscale has already filed to go public in the US.
Global crypto activity has recovered significantly from the boom and bust of the 2021 era. The open question heading into 2026, Mann says, is whether “cryptocurrency issuers can maintain that momentum” long enough to meet public market standards, not just the enthusiasm of crypto-natives, he told CoinDesk in an interview.
Momentum is real, but volatility is a concern
Mann points out the backdrop that public investors will carry until 2026: bitcoin it more than doubled in 2024, then hit new all-time highs in 2025 before retreating sharply. She says that kind of volatility is exactly what stock investors will weigh when evaluating IPO candidates next year, because it not only affects sentiment, but it affects the durability of revenue, customer activity and valuation multiples across the sector.
She says traditional finance is signaling that cryptocurrencies are big enough to be indexed, pointing to S&P Dow Jones Indices’ announcement in October that it was launching a product combining digital assets with public cryptocurrency companies, another sign of institutionalization as conventional market infrastructure begins to package the sector.
But she says there is a flip side to the institutionalization story: Risk tolerance is increasing, but selectivity is increasing more rapidly. Mann notes that MSCI is exploring delisting companies, particularly digital asset treasury (DAT) style listings, that hold more than 50% of their assets in cryptocurrencies., interpreting it as a sign that index providers and allocators may increasingly draw a line between operating businesses and balance sheet indicators for symbolic exposure.
The result, he says, is a market in which investors can accept risks, but not all types of risks. We will see investors “accepting risk but being more discriminating about the risk they accept,” he added.
Regulatory and institutional tailwinds mean the US is more investment-friendly
One of the biggest changes Mann sees heading into 2026 is the regulatory tone. She says the United States has moved from an unfavorable environment to one that is “much more constructive for digital assets,” and points to the GENIUS Act as an example of the direction of travel. That shift, he maintains, “has made the U.S. market more investable” and he says he’s also seeing more signs of institutional adoption.
A rotation in what goes public: from DATs to financial infrastructure
If 2025 relied heavily on DAT listings, Mann expects 2026 to mark a shift: more IPO candidates that look and feel like financial infrastructure, companies that can explain themselves through familiar public market frameworks like compliance posture, recurring revenue and operational resilience.
She expects the 2026 IPO cohort to come from three groups:
Regulated stock exchanges and brokerages
Mann says the most likely listings are exchanges and brokerages that already “live under bank-like compliance regimes,” because they can present themselves as known quantities to public investors and regulators. She posits an initial public offering (IPO) for those companies as “the next logical step.”
Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has already filed to go public, with a possible IPO as early as the first quarter of next year.
Infrastructure and custody games
Mann expects investor preference to shift toward infrastructure and custody, especially when revenue is recurring or subscription-based rather than closely tied to daily token prices. She says the narrative that resonates in public markets is stability, business models that can defend performance even as cryptocurrency volatility increases.
Payments with stablecoins and treasury-style platforms
Mann sees stablecoin issuers and treasury platforms as increasingly viable public candidates because legal frameworks are strengthening on both sides of the Atlantic. She says the GENIUS Act provides a clearer path in the United States, while MiCA has done the same in Europe. His view is that this creates a “stronger legal framework for issuers of fiat-backed stablecoins and payments platforms that closely resemble regulated financial institutions”—structures that public investors already know how to underwrite.
What could limit the 2026 IPO window?
Mann is clear that tailwinds do not eliminate guardians. She says that “valuation discipline is back in play” and points to recent tech IPOs where companies were generally larger and more mature when they debuted. In his opinion, cryptocurrency IPO candidates in 2026 will be judged by the same bar.
That means preparation matters. Mann says investors will look for high-quality digital asset companies, companies that can demonstrate that they are operationally ready, can withstand scrutiny, and have a consistent capital story.
It also points to macroeconomic uncertainty in all regions as a variable that can quickly adjust risk budgets. And he points to recent market action: a sharp pullback in cryptocurrency prices since October. If that weakness persists, or is tied to a broader rerating in technology or AI valuations, Mann says it could likely close the IPO window and reduce the number of cryptocurrency companies that can realistically hit the market in 2026.
On the other hand, Mann says a rebound could change the calculations quickly. If markets recover and Bitcoin hits new highs, expect more companies to try to capitalize on the wave., particularly if the regulatory stance continues to move in a pro-digital asset direction.
The final result for 2026
Mann suggests that 2025 will test whether crypto companies can go public again. 2026 will test whether they can do it in a lasting way.
