Figure Technologies closed up 24% above its IPO price on Thursday, finishing at $31.11 after a volatile first session that briefly traded as high as $36. The pop values the company at roughly $6.58 billion and underscores growing appetite on Wall Street for crypto-native firms.
Figure runs a blockchain-based lending platform that the company says shortens a multi-week loan origination process into just days and dramatically lowers costs — from roughly $12,000 to about $1,000 per mortgage in some cases. CEO Michael Tannenbaum tells Decrypt that Figure aims to demonstrate how distributed-ledger tech can make markets for real-world assets more efficient and easier for investors to understand.
On-chain data provider RWA.xyz shows Figure has about $11.7 billion in outstanding loans and, since launching in 2018, says the firm and partners have originated roughly $16 billion in loans. That scale positions Figure as one of the largest private-credit markets operating on-chain today.
Industry analysts say the IPO could advance mainstream narratives around tokenization. Gerry O’Shea of Hashdex framed the debut as evidence investors believe digital assets can disrupt traditional finance, while Bitwise’s Juan Leon highlighted investor interest in “utility over speculation” for cash-flowing, blockchain-enabled credit platforms. Observers also point to recent policy progress — including the GENIUS Act for stablecoins — as easing regulatory uncertainty for tokenized payments and credit rails.
This listing marks the ninth major U.S. crypto-related IPO this year. Market watchers will also be watching other high-profile debuts, including crypto exchange Gemini.
Why it matters: Figure’s performance gives a practical example of tokenization scaling into real-world finance, but investors should remember that crypto-linked equities carry both market and regulatory risks as the sector evolves.
Source: Decrypt. Read the original coverage for full details.
