Golden Finance reported that Circle Internet Financial's privately held shares are being traded on the secondary market at a price that implies a valuation of $5 billion to $5.25 billion before the planned IPO of the stablecoin issuer. One of the people familiar with the matter said the sellers were early investors or Circle employees who withdrew their capital for liquidity reasons. Before a company goes public, employees usually have the opportunity to cash out their stock options. Two people familiar with the matter said the company does not allow transactions below a valuation of $5 billion.