Company: CRCL
Filing Date: 2025-08-12
Form Type: S-1
Source: 0001193125-25-178989
Chunk: 390

Company: Circle Internet Group, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-08-12
Form: S-1
Chunk 390
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 the satisfaction of both a service condition and a liquidity condition. Both the service and liquidity conditions must be met for the expense to be recognized. The fair value of RSUs is estimated based on F- 5 0

the fair value of our common stock on the date of grant. Stock-based compensation expense related to the RSUs is recorded on a tranche-by-tranche basis over the requisite service period, when the liquidity condition is considered probable.

**Common Stock Valuation**

The valuations of our common stock were determined in accordance with the guidelines outlined in the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants Practice Aid, Valuation of Privately-Held-Company Equity Securities Issued as Compensation. In the absence of an active market, our board of directors, with input from management, exercised significant judgment and considered numerous objective and subjective factors to determine the fair value of our common stock as of the date of each option grant, including the following factors:

| • |     | the results of contemporaneous valuations performed at periodic intervals by an independent valuation firm; |

| • |     | the prices, rights, preferences, and privileges of our convertible preferred stock relative to those of our common stock; |

| • |     | the prices of our convertible preferred stock and common stock sold to investors in arms-length transactions or offered to investors through a tender offer; |

| • |     | our actual operating and financial performance and estimated trends and prospects for our future performance; |

| • |     | our stage of development; |

| • |     | the likelihood of achieving a liquidity event, such as an initial public offering, direct listing, or sale of our company, given prevailing market conditions; |

| • |     | the lack of marketability involving securities in a private company; |

| • |     | the market performance of comparable publicly-traded companies; and |

| • |     | U.S. and global capital market conditions. |

In valuing our common stock, we utilized a probability weighted expected return method, or PWERM. The PWERM involves the estimation of the value of our company under multiple future potential outcomes for us, and estimates of the probability of each potential outcome. The per share value of our common stock determined using the PWERM is ultimately based upon probability-weighted per share values resulting from the various future scenarios, which include an initial public offering or continued operation as a private company. Additionally, the PWERM was combined with the Option Pricing Model to determine the value of the securities comprising our capital structure in certain of