Bullish Shares Soar 5% On Strong Quarterly Results

Shares in Bullish, the crypto trading platform and infrastructure provider backed by Peter Thiel, surged 5% after the firm’s quarterly results beat analysts’ expectations and the company secured regulatory approval to expand its US operations.

Bullish’s stock price continued to gain in the pre-market trading session, with another 2% rise during this period, data from Google Finance shows. 

Bullish stock price (Source: Google Finance)

That’s after the company made its public market debut on Aug. 13. On its first trading day, Bullish stock opened with a price of $37 per share. It briefly spiked on the day, but closed the debut trading session off at $68. 

One of the investors in the Bullish IPO was Cathie Wood-led ARK Invest. The company has backed the digital platform since it went public. In its latest trade notification, ARK Invest disclosed that it bought more Bullish shares across two of its ETFs (exchange-traded funds).

The asset manager bought 27,813 Bullish shares via its ARKK fund, and another 8,515 shares through its ARKW ETF.

Here’s every move Cathie Wood and Ark Invest made in the stock market today 9/17 pic.twitter.com/VicfItGdVl

— Ark Invest Tracker (@ArkkDaily) September 18, 2025

That’s a day after the asset management firm bought $8.2 million Bullish shares after the stock price slid 18%.

Bullish Beats Analysts’ Expectations

The soaring share price in the latest trading session follows the company’s quarterly results, which is the first report since the company went public, beat analysts’ expectations. Bullish is also expecting a higher adjusted EBITDA for the next quarter. 

Bullish reported earnings per share of $0.93 in the second quarter of this year, which was well above the average estimate from analysts at around $0.03, according to FactSet data. However, the company also reported adjusted revenue of $57 million for the same quarter, which was below the estimated $60.7 million.

Despite the lower adjusted revenue, Bullish CEO Tom Farley said in a filing that the company experienced “exciting liquidity services growth,” adding that the firm is also seeing “strong business momentum” in the third quarter.

Trading activity on Bullish in the second quarter backs Farley’s remarks, with volumes on the platform surging to $179.6 billion. This is up from the $133 billion that was seen in the same quarter last year. For the next quarter, the firm does however predict lower volumes between $133 billion to $142 billion.

Bullish anticipates $25 million to $28 million in adjusted EBITDA in the third quarter as well, which is much higher than the $8.1 million in the second quarter. 

EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) is a way to assess how well a business performs from its core operations before certain financial and accounting decisions are made. 

Bullish Secures Regulatory Nod To Expand Operations In The US

While Bullish’s latest quarterly report beats analysts’ expectations, the company has also recently secured regulatory approval to expand its operations in the US.

The company announced that its US arm, Bullish US Operations LLC, has been granted both a BitLicense and a Money Transmission License by the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS).

With those approvals, the crypto firm is now able to offer institutional clients crypto spot trading and custody services in New York.

BitLicense is often seen as one of the most challenging regulatory hurdles that crypto companies need to overcome. It requires a lengthy review process and the license has only been granted to a limited number of companies since its introduction in 2015. 

Only a few dozen companies have managed to get BitLicense thus far, with recent recipients including the payments firm MoonPay and a subsidiary of crypto bank Anchorage Digital.

Remember when Benjamin Lawsky invented the New York BitLicense and then resigned from his job as a regulator to be a consultant to help you get the BitLicense he just made?

And we’re are still doing the paperwork ten years later

With only 26 BitLicense applications approved… pic.twitter.com/2lAmOFz3lV

— Andreas (@abrkn) August 6, 2025

The license has also been criticized by the industry for being too costly as well as limiting New York’s competitiveness in the crypto space. While the application fee is only $5,000, many have said that the actual cost of obtaining the license is significantly higher.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams, in response to the push back, suggested that the state should reconsider the BitLicense program.

“Let’s get rid of the Bitcoin license and allow us to have the free flow of Bitcoin in our city,” the Mayor said during the Bitcoin 2025 conference that was held earlier this year.

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