Summary Bullish is a rapidly growing, institutionally focused digital asset platform with strong regulatory positioning and experienced leadership. The company boasts impressive trading volume growth, diversified revenue streams, and a robust balance sheet supporting its ambitious expansion plans. Valuation appears attractive relative to the benchmark, with a massively lower P/B ratio. Despite high risks and uncertainties typical of new IPOs, I rate BLSH a Strong Buy for long-term investors bullish on digital asset transformation. The stock of the company named Bullish ( BLSH ) surged by almost 84% during its first trading day. Company naming looks a little bit odd and might lead to confusion in investment-related articles ("I am bullish on Bullish") but the first-day share price surge looks fair because fundamentals look really promising. Large attention to the stock is absolutely fair, and that is the reason I am buying this stock. BLSH looks very promising According to the IPO prospectus , Bullish is an institutionally focused global digital asset platform that provides market infrastructure and information services. The company is very young as it was founded in 2020. The company operates under the "Bullish" and "CoinDesk" brands, providing various services that span the digital asset industry. Trading and liquidity infrastructure is delivered via Bullish Exchange, while information services (indices, data, and insights) are delivered via CoinDesk. IPO prospectus Despite being such a young company, Bullish already boasts a notable footprint in the digital asset industry. The company's exchange is already regulated in major jurisdictions like the USA, Germany, Hong Kong, and Gibraltar. The management is also taking steps to secure licenses in several other jurisdictions. The infrastructure is designed for compliance, security, and high performance. All these requirements are crucial for institutional clients, meaning that Bullish is highly likely to be firmly positioned to benefit from the intersection of two powerful trends: the mainstreaming and institutionalization of digital assets. Bullish already boasts over $1.25 trillion in cumulative trading volume and a 35%-44% market share in Bitcoin and Ethereum spot trading among its peer set. IPO prospectus Apart from a rapidly expanding footprint in a promising market, Bullish also has some very experienced business leaders on the team. The CEO of Bullish, Tom Farley, previously served as COO/CEO, the president of the New York Stock Exchange, and the Intercontinental Exchange. That said, the company's leader has vast experience in financial markets, which is certainly an asset. Additionally, Bullish has iconic Peter Thiel (early investor of PayPal, Palantir, and Facebook) in their corner. He is a founding backer and major investor in Bullish, who provides not only capital but also his strategic credibility. IPO prospectus The company is building multiple revenue streams, which is good from a long-term perspective as it makes the business mix more resilient. The main source of revenues is trading fees, meaning that every time a client buys or sells digital assets on Bullish, the platform takes a cut from each transaction. Each transaction fee is individually small, but since Bullish targets institutional players, the main growth driver here will be striving to attract large trading volumes. The second part of the company's business, CoinDesk, is a popular crypto media and data company. It generates sales by selling subscriptions with market data, as well as hosting events and selling sponsorships. It is a rapidly expanding business with revenue soaring from $5 million in FY2022 to $62 million in FY2024. In addition, the company also owns a large stash of cryptocurrencies, mainly including Bitcoin and Ethereum. Thanks to a nice bullish run in cryptocurrencies in 2024, the company recognized a $1 billion gain on the revaluation of its crypto holdings. IPO prospectus With all the above being said regarding the company's business mix, driving trading volume growth is the critical success factor for Bullish. Looking at the latest performance available, the company is doing well in driving trading volume growth. According to the IPO prospectus , the Q1 2025 trading volume has soared by 78%, which is massive. IPO prospectus The company plans to drive a comprehensive growth strategy over the long term by investing in international expansion (obtaining required licenses in more countries), new product development, expanding collaboration with other notable industry players, and pursuing M&A. The growth strategy looks well-rounded, and I like the fact that the management emphasizes maximizing the company's cross-selling potential. Bullish has a rock-solid balance sheet with total assets several times larger than total liabilities, positioning the company extremely well to fuel its ambitious growth strategy. Valuation looks fine According to the prospectus , BLSH has 146 million ordinary shares outstanding after the IPO, and it will be 150 million shares if the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional Ordinary Shares in full. For the purposes of my valuation analysis, I am assuming 150 million shares. With that being said, the market cap of Bullish at the close of its first trading day is around $10.2 billion . This was calculated by multiplying the closing price of $68 by 150 million shares outstanding. In absolute terms, a $10.2 billion market cap does not look big for a company that has the potential to become one of the most crucial ones in an era of digital assets and institutionalized crypto trading. The company's P/B ratio of around 5, which is a $10.2 billion market cap divided by reported net assets of around $2 billion , also does not look sky-high. Seeking Alpha For example, Coinbase Global, Inc. ( COIN ) has a P/B ratio of around 7. I am using Coinbase as a benchmark because it is the leading U.S.-based digital asset exchange, which makes it very relevant. In addition, in one of the previous screenshots I shared the management estimates the net assets of Bullish at around $2.5 billion as of June 30, 2025. Therefore, the P/B ratio of BLSH is currently highly likely closer to 4. This is way lower than the benchmark. I am not comparing Bullish to benchmarks in terms of P&L-related valuation metrics because the company is still young and will inevitably lag behind Coinbase in terms of profitability due to its current strategy of lowering trading spreads to build market share. Potential drawbacks Buying shares of companies that have just gone public is highly risky for investors. Bullish has no history of quarterly earnings releases yet, while many forecasts and financial models typically rely on historical trends. The ability of Bullish to deliver on its financial targets and strategy is also impossible to know in advance. In addition, there is a lock-up period during which early investors, employees, and insiders are unable to sell their shares. This period will last for 180 days, meaning the lock-up is set to expire in early February 2026. Once the lock-up expires, there will very likely be increased volume and volatility around that date, as several notable stakeholders will be able to sell their shares. Regarding business risks, digital assets themselves are still very young and volatile. Regulation in this domain is evolving rapidly, which adds another layer of unpredictability regarding potential regulatory risks for Bullish as it executes its growth plans. The verdict Bullish is my high-risk bet that I am willing to hold for the long term. The level of uncertainty is high, but a company like Bullish appears to be a very important one if the world transforms digital not only in terms of software and AI agents but also related to financial services and trading. I think that BLSH certainly merits a Strong Buy rating if you are a long-term investor who believes in the potential of digital asset transformation.
