EOS Legacy: Can Crypto Exchange Bullish Replicate Coinbase's Path to Listing?

Author: 1912212.eth, Foresight News

In May 2018, investor Li Xiaolai put down his rhetoric to "look at EOS in seven years", and after seven years, the price of EOS has fallen more than 40 times from its peak.

Ironically, Bullish, founded by Block.one, the company behind the EOS platform, will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on August 13, 2025 (exactly seven years) under the ticker symbol "BLSH", and is expected to open for trading at 21:30 Beijing time on August 13. Block.one has established itself as a significant player in the crypto ecosystem through its core businesses, Bullish, an institutional-grade digital asset platform, and CoinDesk media platform.

Under the wave of crypto company listings, Foresight News will take you to gain insights into Bullish from a data perspective.

Target valuation of $4.8 billion

Bullish's IPO pricing range was recently raised to $32-33 per share, increasing the issuance to 30 million shares, with a target fundraising of up to $990 million and a valuation of about $4.8 billion. There was an increase from earlier plans (selling 20.3 million shares at $28 to $31 per share). This adjustment reflects strong investor demand for crypto infrastructure, especially against the backdrop of Bitcoin's price stabilizing above $110,000 and rising institutional adoption.

BlackRock and Cathie Wood's ARK has indicated plans to buy $200 million in shares. Bullish is expected to set prices this Tuesday and start trading the next day.

Bullish was officially established in June 2021 and is headquartered in the Cayman Islands, with subsidiaries in Hong Kong, the United States, Singapore and other places. Its core business is divided into two major segments: Bullish Exchange provides spot, leverage, and derivatives trading services, regulated by Germany, Hong Kong, and Gibraltar; CoinDesk focuses on index, data, and insights services.

As of March 31, 2025, the Bullish exchange supports over 70 spot trading pairs and 45 perpetual futures pairs, serving qualified clients in over 50 jurisdictions worldwide. In terms of trading volume, the platform has accumulated over $1.25 trillion in trading volume since its launch, with Bitcoin (BTC/USDx) and Ethereum (ETH/USDx) having global spot trading volume market shares of $284.8 billion and $144.5 billion respectively in 2024, showing its competitiveness in institutional-level markets.

User growth is a significant driver of Bullish's growth. Its active institutional clientele increased by 36% year-over-year in 2024, with CoinDesk attracting over 55 million unique visitors and an average monthly user base of 10.7 million. CoinDesk index products have assets under management (AUM) of over $41 billion and associated trading volume of $15 billion (as of June 30, 2025). Bullish not only focuses on trading infrastructure, but also builds an ecological closed loop through media and data services.

Its growth momentum is further supported by its financial performance. According to SEC F-1 filings, net income for the full year 2024 was $80 million, with non-IFRS adjusted EBITDA of $52 million. However, a net loss of $349 million was recorded in the first quarter of 2025, primarily influenced by digital asset price fluctuations and operational costs. However, adjusted net income remained at $2 million, indicating stable profitability in the core business.

Preliminary estimates for the second quarter show total revenue between $6000-$62 million, adjusted EBITDA of $1000-$14 million, and net income ranging from -$2 million to $6 million. Revenue streams are diverse, including transaction fees, spreads, licensing fees, and advertising, with adjusted trading revenue expected to be $56 million to $58 million in the second quarter of 2025.

Holding $3 billion worth of crypto assets

May 2021, Block.one launched and injected $1 billion into Bullish Global, including $100 million in cash, 164,000 bitcoins (worth about $9.7 billion at the time), and 20 million EOS tokens. Outside investors also added $300 million, including PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, hedge fund mogul Alan Howard, and Mike Novogratz, a prominent investor in the crypto industry.

The company's CEO, Tom Farley, is a former president of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and has deep experience in traditional financial markets, specializing in driving institutional-grade trading platforms. David Bonanno is now the CFO of Bullish and was previously the CFO of Far Peak Acquisition Corp, where he plays a central role in capital allocation, business strategy and key collaborations. In addition, Chief Operating Officer Sarah Johnson has a strong track record in compliance and risk management, having served on the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, where she helped Bullish obtain regulatory licenses in multiple places.

prospectus (Form F-1) disclosed that Bullish plans to convert more than 50% of the IPO proceeds into USD stablecoins to enhance liquidity and hedge against crypto market volatility.

The Bullish platform's Bitcoin trading volume in the first quarter of 2025 was $108.6 billion, a 36% increase from $80.082 billion in the same period last year. Bitcoin's daily trading volume was $1.207 billion, up 37% from $880 million in the same period last year.

According to the prospectus, Bullish's digital asset sales in 2022, 2023, and 2024 were $72.89 billion, $116.49 billion, and $250.2 billion, respectively. net profit was -$4.246 billion, $1.3 billion, and $79.56 million, respectively.

In August 2025, the company stated in its filing on Monday that the company currently holds more than $3 billion in liquid assets, including: 24,000 Bitcoins; 12,600 ETH; $418 million in cash and stablecoins. At the end of the second quarter, current assets were estimated to increase to $2.05-2.15 billion, with net current assets of $1.499-1.599 billion.

Bullish's predecessor, Block.one, raised approximately $4.18 billion in 2017-2018 through an EOS ICO (Initial Coin Offering), one of the largest ICOs in crypto history, to develop the EOS platform.

EOS tokens have long been dumped to investors, and a steady stream of cash flow and revenue is used to buy Bitcoin and Ethereum. With this investment alone, Bullish made a lot of money.

EOS has not thrived under the expectations, and there may still be a question mark over whether Bullish, the exchange built by block.one, will truly succeed.