After 2025’s Test Run, Crypto IPOs Face Their Real Trial in 2026

Laura Katherine Mann, a partner at global law firm White & Case, sees 2025 as the "test-case year" for crypto initial public offerings, but says 2026 is the real proof point: the year the market finds out whether digital asset IPOs are a "durable asset class" or just a cyclical trade that only works when prices are ripping.

2025 was a busy year for crypto companies going public. Stablecoin issuer Circle (CRCL) listed in June, followed by CoinDesk's owner Bullish (BLSH) in August and crypto exchange Gemini (GEMI) in September.

Potential candidates for next year include South Korean crypto exchange Upbit, prime broker FalconX, and blockchain analytics company Chainanalysis. Asset manager Grayscale has already filed to go public in the U.S.

Global crypto activity has recovered meaningfully from the 2021-era boom and bust. The open question heading into 2026, Mann says, is whether "crypto issuers can maintain that momentum" long enough to meet public-market standards, not just crypto-native enthusiasm, she told CoinDesk in an interview.

Momentum is real, but volatility is a concern

Mann points to the backdrop public investors will carry into 2026: bitcoin BTC$90,178.22 more than doubled in 2024, then pushed to new all-time highs in 2025 before pulling back sharply. She says that kind of volatility is exactly what equity investors will be weighing when they evaluate IPO candidates next year, because it doesn’t just affect sentiment, it affects revenue durability, customer activity, and valuation multiples across the sector.

She says traditional finance is signaling crypto is big enough to index, pointing to S&P Dow Jones Indices' announcement in October that it was launching a product that blends digital assets with crypto public companies, another sign of institutionalization as mainstream market infrastructure starts packaging the sector.

But she says the institutionalization story has a flipside: risk tolerance is rising, but selectivity is rising faster. Mann points to MSCI exploring the exclusion of companies — particularly digital asset treasury (DAT)-style listings — that hold more than 50% of their assets in crypto, interpreting it as a sign that index providers and allocators may increasingly draw a line between operating businesses and balance-sheet proxies for token exposure.

The result, she says, is a market where investors may accept risk, just not every kind of risk. We will see investors "accepting risk but being more discriminating about the risk that they accept," she added.

Regulatory and institutional tailwinds means the U.S is more investable

One of the biggest changes Mann sees heading into 2026 is the regulatory tone. She says the U.S. has moved from an unfavorable environment to a "far more constructive one for digital assets," pointing to the GENIUS Act as an example of the direction of travel. That change, she argues, has "made the U.S. market more investable," and she says she’s also seeing more signs of institutional adoption.

A rotation in what goes public: from DATs to financial infrastructure

If 2025 leaned 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 buckets:

Regulated exchanges and brokerages

Mann says the most probable listings are exchanges and brokerages already "living under bank-like compliance regimes," because they can present themselves as known quantities to public investors and regulators. She frames an IPO for those firms as “the next logical step.”

Crypto exchange Kraken has already filed to go public, with a potential listing as early as the first quarter of next year.

Infrastructure and custody plays

Mann expects investor preference to tilt toward infrastructure and custody, especially where revenue is recurring or subscription-based rather than tightly coupled to daily token prices. She says the pitch that resonates in public markets is stability, business models that can defend performance even when crypto volatility spikes.

Stablecoin payments and treasury-style platforms

Mann sees stablecoin-related 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 U.S., while MiCA has done the same in Europe. Her view is that this creates a "more robust legal framework for fiat-backed stablecoin issuers and payments platforms that look a lot like regulated financial institutions," structures public investors already know how to underwrite.

What could cap the 2026 IPO window?

Mann is clear that tailwinds don’t eliminate the gatekeepers. She says "valuation discipline is back in the room”, and she points to recent tech IPOs where companies were generally larger and more mature when they debuted. In her view, crypto IPO candidates in 2026 will be judged against that same bar.

That means readiness matters. Mann says investors will be looking for high-quality digital asset companies, firms that can demonstrate they’re operationally prepared, can withstand scrutiny, and have a coherent equity story.

She also flags macro uncertainty across regions as a variable that can tighten risk budgets quickly. And she points to recent market action: a sharp pullback in crypto prices since Oct. If that weakness persists, or if it’s tied to a broader re-rating in tech or AI valuations, Mann says it could likely close the IPO window and reduce the number of crypto companies that can realistically come to market in 2026.

On the other hand, Mann says a rebound could change the calculus fast. If markets recover and bitcoin makes new highs, she expects more companies to try to capitalize on the wave, particularly if regulatory posture continues to move in a pro-digital-assets direction.

The bottom line for 2026

Mann suggests 2025 tested whether crypto companies can go public again. 2026 will test whether they can do it in a way that lasts.