Laura Katherine Mann, a partner at global law firm White & Case, sees 2025 as a “test case year” for crypto initial public offerings, but says 2026 will be the year of real proof, when the market will figure out whether digital asset IPOs are a “durable asset class” or just a circular trade that only works when prices are wild.
2025 was a busy year for crypto companies to go public. In June, stablecoin issuer Circle (CRCL) went public, followed by CoinDesk owner Blish (BLSH) in August and cryptocurrency exchange Gemini (GEMI) in September.
Potential candidates for next year include South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, prime broker FalconX, and blockchain analytics firm Chain Analysis. Asset management company Grayscale has already filed to go public in the US
Global cryptocurrency activity has meaningfully recovered from the boom and bust of the 2021 era. Mann told CoinDesk in an interview that the unresolved question heading into 2026 is not just crypto-native enthusiasm, but “can crypto issuers maintain their momentum” long enough to meet public market standards.
Momentum is real, but volatility is a concern
Mr. Mann points out the background that retail investors will bring in in 2026: Bitcoin BTC$90,061.19 It more than doubled in 2024, reached a record high in 2025, and then fell sharply. He said this type of volatility is exactly what equity investors will consider when evaluating potential IPOs next year, as it not only impacts sentiment, but also impacts sustainability of earnings, customer activity and valuation multiples for the sector as a whole.
He said traditional finance has shown that cryptocurrencies are big enough to be indexed, pointing to S&P Dow Jones Indices' announcement in October to launch a product that marries digital assets with crypto public companies, another sign of institutionalization as mainstream market infrastructures begin to package the crypto sector.
But she says there's a flip side to the institutionalization story: risk tolerance is increasing, but selectivity is increasing faster. Mann noted that MSCI is considering excluding companies that hold more than 50% of their assets in cryptocurrencies, particularly listed companies in the form of digital asset treasury (DAT)., This is interpreted as a sign that index providers and allocators may increasingly draw a line between the operating business of token exposure and balance sheet surrogacy.
The result, she says, is a market where investors can accept risk, although not all types of risk. Investors will “accept risk, but they will be more cautious about the risks they accept,” he added.
Regulatory and institutional tailwinds mean U.S. investment potential
One of the biggest changes Mann sees heading into 2026 is the direction of regulation. She said the United States has moved from a hostile environment to a “much more positive environment for digital assets,” and cited the GENIUS Act as an example of that direction. She argues that this change has “made the U.S. market easier to invest in,” and that there are increasing signs that the system is being implemented.
Rotating what gets published: From DAT to financial infrastructure
If 2025 was heavily dependent on DAT listings, Mann expects 2026 to mark a change. That means more IPO candidates will look and feel like financial infrastructure, and more companies will be able to explain themselves through familiar public market frameworks such as compliance posture, recurring revenue, and operational resilience.
She expects the 2026 IPO cohort to consist of three buckets.
Regulated exchanges and intermediaries
Mann said the companies most likely to go public are exchanges and brokerages that are already “under bank-like compliance regimes” because they can present known quantities to public investors and regulators. She sees IPOs for these companies as “the next logical step.”
Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has already filed to go public, and could do so as early as the first quarter of next year.
Infrastructure and custody role
Mann expects investor preferences to lean toward infrastructure and custody, especially if returns are recurring or subscription-based rather than closely tied to daily token prices. She says the pitch that resonates in public markets is stability, a business model that can protect performance even when crypto volatility spikes.
Stablecoin payments and Treasury style platform
Mann believes stablecoin-related issuers and financial platforms will increasingly become strong public candidates as legal frameworks strengthen on both sides of the Atlantic. She said the GENIUS law provided a clearer path in the US, and MiCA did something similar in Europe. Her view is that this will create “a more robust legal framework for issuers of fiat-backed stablecoins and payment platforms that more closely resemble regulated financial institutions,” a structure that public investors already know how to underwrite.
What will be the upper bound for the 2026 IPO window?
Mann is clear that tailwinds do not eliminate gatekeepers. “Valuation discipline is back,” she said, pointing to recent IPOs of high-tech companies, where companies are generally larger and more mature than when they debuted. In her view, 2026 crypto IPO candidates will be judged by the same criteria.
That means preparation is key. Mann said investors will look for high-quality digital asset companies – companies that can demonstrate operational readiness, can withstand scrutiny and have a consistent stock story.
He also points to macro uncertainty across the region as a variable that could quickly tighten risk budgets. Mann then points to recent market movements, namely the sharp decline in cryptocurrency prices since October. If that weakness persists, or if it is coupled with a broader reassessment of technology and AI valuations, the IPO window could potentially close, reducing the number of crypto companies that could realistically enter the market in 2026, Mann said.
But Mann said a rebound could quickly change the calculations. Once the market recovers and Bitcoin hits new highs, she expects more companies to try to ride the wave., This is especially true if regulatory attitudes continue to move in a direction that favors digital assets.
Final goal for 2026
Mann suggests that 2025 will be a test of whether crypto companies can go public again. 2026 will test whether this can be done in a sustainable way.
