Bullish stock jumps 10% as key approval paves way for crypto exchange US expansion-brfastnews

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2025-09-18

Bullish stock jumps 10% as key approval paves way for crypto exchange US expansion

Bullish (BLSH) stock rose more than 10% on Thursday after the crypto exchange cleared a key hurdle necessary for its entrance into the US market.

CEO Tom Farley announced on the company’s earnings call the previous day that the exchange had received a key New York license, which he described as critical to its business model.

“While we have already had the ability to operate in many states because of our regulatory approval, we refrained from launching our exchange in the United States until we received the New York State Department of Financial Services BitLicense,” Farley said. “We received that license yesterday, and we look forward to bringing our exchange and our leading liquidity to the United States imminently, and we believe this to be the largest geographic market by far.”

Bullish’s crypto exchange, which is geared towards institutional investors, already has licenses in Hong Kong and Germany. The company, which also owns the publication CoinDesk, reported its first quarterly results since its splashy public debut last month on Wednesday.

Wall Street analysts cheered the new approval.

“We lift our PT to $56 (+$11) to reflect faster U.S. expansion, where our prior PT reflected just a 50% probability of NYDFS approval,” wrote Compass Point analyst Ed Engel on Thursday morning. The firm maintains a Neutral rating on the stock.

Bernstein analyst Gautam Chhugani sees the company’s initiatives to enter the US market as “key growth catalysts for the coming quarters.”

“Bullish now holds multiple tier 1 regulatory licenses (German BaFin, Hong Kong SFC and U.S BitLicense) across major crypto markets, strengthening its positioning as global regulated institutional crypto exchange,” added Chhugani.

Bernstein maintains a price target of $60 on the stock, and market-perform rating.

Bullish posted second quarter revenue $57 million versus $60.7 million for the same three-month period last year and earnings per share of $0.93, compared to a loss per share of $1.03 last year.

On Thursday the stock was trading more than 60% higher than its Aug. 14 initial public offering price of $37 per share.

Bullish first attempted to go public via a SPAC merger in 2021, but the deal fell through after regulatory scrutiny, and Bullish withdrew its registration.

The company is one of a few crypto related firms that have debuted on the public markets this year. The list includes Gemini (GEMI), Circle (CRCL), and eTroro (ETOR).