Crypto Assets concept stocks become a new focus, US stocks welcome the "alt season" trend

On May 19, 2025, a certain trading platform was officially included in the S&P 500 index, and Crypto Assets stocks gradually entered the mainstream investor's view. Subsequently, stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Group went public on June 5 on the New York Stock Exchange, with an IPO price of $31. By June 19, the stock price had soared over 600%, marking the arrival of the "alt season" in the US stock market.

Crypto companies' stocks are becoming a special "crypto hotspot": traditional market investors are starting to pay attention to companies in the crypto industry, while the crypto circle views the price changes of coin stocks as one of the indicators of market fluctuations. This article will outline the recent speculative targets of crypto concept stocks in the US stock market.

Note: This article was written on June 19th. Due to the escalation of the Middle East war situation, there may be some discrepancies between the current stock price and the prices mentioned in the article.

Circle and Stablecoin Concepts

Circle Internet Group (stock code: CRCL)

Listing Date: June 2025 | Exchange: NYSE | Stock Symbol: CRCL | Market Capitalization: Approximately $42 billion

On June 5, 2025, Circle Internet Group officially listed on the New York Stock Exchange, becoming the first large Crypto Assets company to successfully IPO since a certain trading platform. The IPO was priced at $31 and doubled on the first day. As of June 19, the stock price has surged to $199.81, setting a new record for the three-day cumulative performance of US stock IPOs since 2020.

Circle was established in 2013, initially entering the market with the P2P payment application Circle Pay. It once ventured into the exchange business but did not achieve breakthroughs. In 2018, Circle began to transition towards the stablecoin sector, focusing on the issuance and management of USDC. Currently, USDC is widely used on multiple platforms and has become one of the most active stablecoins in DeFi and cross-border payments.

Against the backdrop of the implementation of the GENIUS Act in the United States and the stablecoin regulatory framework in Hong Kong, the surge of CRCL not only reflects the market's recognition of its fundamentals and revenue model but also highlights concentrated bets on the future value of the stablecoin sector. Stablecoins are gradually evolving from peripheral tools to core infrastructure, and major financial institutions on Wall Street are frequently signaling their intentions to issue stablecoins. The scarcity of Circle, combined with policy dividends, has driven its valuation to soar.

In addition, Circle continues to expand its landing scenarios in multiple directions such as global cross-border clearing, on-chain settlement, and government collaboration. More and more enterprises are using USDC as a real-time stable payment method alternative to traditional cross-border payment systems, attempting to build a more efficient and transparent capital flow network using blockchain technology. In the future, the performance of CRCL will not only reflect investors' valuation judgments of a technology company but also price the possibilities of a new generation global payment system.

Some trading platform (stock code: COIN)

Launch Date: April 14, 2021 | Exchange: NASDAQ | Stock Code: COIN | Market Cap: Approximately 75 billion USD

A trading platform was established in 2012, serving over 120 million users across more than 100 countries. The platform supports various Crypto Assets trading and provides retail and institutional services, including custody and professional trading services, managing assets exceeding $200 billion. The platform holds licenses from multiple states in the United States and continues to deeply explore the fields of public chains, infrastructure, and payments in the encryption sector.

Recently, the platform's ecosystem has welcomed multiple significant updates: its Layer2 network has shown impressive performance, with DeFi TVL exceeding $5 billion, and it has announced the integration of the on-chain DEX into the main application to inject liquidity into on-chain assets; at the same time, it has launched a USDC checkout feature in collaboration with an e-commerce platform to promote the commercial use of stablecoins; on the consumer side, it has also partnered with a credit card company to launch the first crypto credit card; in addition, the platform has introduced CFTC-compliant perpetual contract features in the United States and acquired an options exchange to accelerate its layout in the derivatives market.

Behind the surge of Circle, the market seems to have overlooked that a certain trading platform is the biggest winner of this feast. USDC was jointly launched by Circle and this platform through an alliance in 2018, and after the alliance was dissolved in 2023, this platform acquired equity from Circle in August of the same year. According to the IPO document disclosed by Circle, this platform receives half of the remaining income from Circle's USDC reserves, "lying down to earn" 50%.

The Concept of "Bitcoin Reserves"

MicroStrategy Incorporated (stock code: MSTR)

Listing Date: June 1998 | Exchange: NASDAQ | Stock Code: MSTR | Market Cap: Approximately $103 billion

Before venturing into the crypto space, MicroStrategy's core business was providing business intelligence software platforms to help companies with data analysis, reporting, and information dissemination, which was rather unremarkable. What truly brought MicroStrategy into the mainstream spotlight was its Bitcoin strategic reserve strategy.

Since August 2020, CEO Michael Saylor has taken the lead in making Bitcoin the main reserve asset on the company's balance sheet, continuously increasing their BTC holdings through methods such as issuing convertible bonds. By mid-2025, the company holds over 500,000 Bitcoins, accounting for nearly 3% of the global Bitcoin circulation, and has committed to "not selling a single Bitcoin."

This strategy has made MicroStrategy a "quasi-ETF" target for Bitcoin concepts in the US stock market, providing many institutional investors with a channel to "indirectly hold Bitcoin through traditional financial markets". Benefiting from the continuous rise in Bitcoin prices, MSTR's stock price has skyrocketed from $12 in 2020 to over $360, an increase of more than 30 times, with a market value correlation to Bitcoin prices between 0.7 and 0.9, showing a very strong positive correlation.

Against the backdrop of the accelerated financialization of Bitcoin, the approval of ETFs, and the surge in institutional allocation demand, MicroStrategy's "BTC-based" strategy is no longer an isolated case, but has evolved into a barometer for the entire encryption industry. Its pioneering model has triggered a chain reaction, with more and more companies beginning to follow the "MicroStrategy path"—actively purchasing Bitcoin through financing, bond issuance, etc., and incorporating it into their balance sheets, sparking a new wave of "public companies hoarding coins."

GameStop Corp. (Stock Code: GME)

Release Date: June 2002 | Exchange: NYSE | Stock Code: GME | Market Cap: Approximately $10.5 billion

GameStop is a multichannel video game and consumer electronics retailer headquartered in the United States, with operations in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Australia. The company sells new and used game consoles, physical and digital game software, and various accessories through its brand stores and international e-commerce platforms, with hardware and peripherals being the main source of its revenue.

In February 2025, CEO Ryan Cohen met with MicroStrategy founder Michael Saylor, and this meeting was seen by the market as an important signal for GameStop to emulate MicroStrategy's "coin hoarding" model. In March, the company announced plans to use Bitcoin as a reserve asset. The stock price soared by 12% in March. Rumors in February also contributed to an 18% increase in GME's stock price.

At the end of May, the company confirmed that it had purchased approximately 4,710 bitcoins (worth about $513 million), officially incorporating bitcoins into its balance sheet and formally joining the "MicroStrategy model," making it the 13th largest bitcoin-holding company in the world. Stimulated by short-term news, on June 11, the company announced a $1.75 billion note issuance plan for strategic reserves of bitcoin. Following the note issuance announcement, GME's stock price fell over 11% in after-hours trading on June 11, and on June 12, GME's stock price plummeted over 23%, partly attributed to a 17% decline in first-quarter revenue to $732.4 million, and also reflecting investors' concerns about potential share dilution and bitcoin investment strategies. Recently, GME completed the issuance of $2.25 billion in convertible senior notes to strengthen its bitcoin strategy. GME's stock price closed at $22.99 on June 17, down approximately 1.4% for the day.

Trump Media & Technology Group Corp (Stock Code: DJT)

Listing Date: September 2021 | Exchange: NASDAQ | Stock Code: DJT | Market Capitalization: Approximately $5.1 billion

Trump Media & Technology Group is a comprehensive technology company focused on social media, digital streaming, and technological infrastructure. The company's flagship products aim to create a public opinion space that encourages freedom of speech and decentralized censorship.

On May 27, 2025, DJT announced the launch of a $2.5 billion Bitcoin treasury strategy, clearly incorporating Bitcoin into its asset reserves for "financial stability and long-term value storage." This news directly stimulated a short-term increase in Bitcoin by 1.17%, with the price breaking through the $112,000 mark. DJT's stock price experienced a rollercoaster of fluctuations after the announcement, initially rising in pre-market trading, then briefly falling nearly 12%, marking the largest single-day decline since March 10, 2025, reflecting market investors' concerns about investing in Bitcoin.

In June, DJT announced that its S-3 registration statement was approved by regulators and became effective, and immediately initiated equity and convertible bond agreements with approximately 50 investors, raising a total of up to $2.3 billion. According to disclosures, most of this financing will be directly used to purchase Bitcoin, making DJT the second large U.S. publicly traded company after MicroStrategy to treat Bitcoin as a strategic asset reserve.

Other companies

MicroStrategy, once regarded as a high-risk niche strategy, is evolving into a mainstream narrative path that companies across various industries are competing to imitate five years later. An increasing number of enterprises are beginning to incorporate Crypto Assets into their reserve systems, attempting to reconstruct their valuation logic through "crypto reserves + capital market leverage."

Fitness equipment manufacturer Interactive Strength (stock code: TRNR) and medical company Semler Scientific (stock code: SMLR) have both invested in Bitcoin, approving investment plans of up to $5 million and 1,570 Bitcoins, respectively. AI company Genius Group (stock code: GNS) is also in the game, spending $14 million to purchase 153 Bitcoins. In addition, several other companies, such as Rumble (stock code: RUM), Anixa Biosciences (stock code: ANIX), and LQR House( stock code: YHC), have also joined the Bitcoin investment trend.

"Coin-Stock Integration" Concept

SharpLink Gaming (stock symbol: SBET)

Listing Date: May 1997 | Exchange: NASDAQ | Stock Code: SBET | Market Cap: Approximately 600 million USD

SharpLink Gaming is an online technology company operating in the field of sports betting and online casino games, connecting sports fans with licensed online sports betting operators to provide personalized betting offers for sports enthusiasts. The company's operating conditions are not ideal, with years of losses. The net profit for 2023 was -14.2432 million USD, and the total revenue for 2024 was -4.5712 million USD.

On May 27, SharpLink Gaming issued 69,100,313 shares of common stock or equivalent securities to investors at a price of $6.15 per share, with expected total proceeds of approximately $425 million. The funds raised will be used to purchase Ethereum as the company's primary treasury reserve asset. This