Goldman Sachs: The 2026 IPO Boom Is Real, But Far From Dot-Com Mania

The U.S. IPO market is staging one of its most impressive comebacks in recent memory, but according to Goldman Sachs, the current surge still falls well short of the speculative fever that gripped Wall Street during the dot-com era or the pandemic-fueled frenzy of 2021.

According to Goldman Sachs research, approximately 50 companies have completed public listings in the United States so far in 2026 — roughly twice as many as during the same stretch in 2025. Even more striking is the dollar volume: at just the halfway point of the year, IPO issuance has already hit around $120 billion, effectively matching the full-year record established in 2021.

Ben Snider, Goldman Sachs' chief U.S. equity strategist, offered some perspective on the bank's Exchanges podcast. "To some extent, what's happening is just a normal recovery," Snider explained, adding that a combination of large companies entering the public markets and surging demand for capital tied to artificial intelligence development is driving much of the activity.

Despite elevated equity valuations and AI-powered investor enthusiasm, Snider was careful to note that the sheer number of IPOs remains historically modest. The U.S. has averaged roughly 100 IPOs annually over the past 25 years — a figure close to today's pace. By comparison, more than 250 companies went public in 2021, while the dot-com peak of 1999 saw nearly 400 listings in a single year. That context, Snider argued, is what separates today's market from true bubble territory.

"Although the dollar volume is quite elevated, although we're seeing an acceleration in activity, to me it still looks like we're a far cry from that level of euphoric sentiment that we saw in those episodes," the strategist said.

While traditional markets are heating up, the crypto sector has been conspicuously absent from the IPO wave. Several high-profile digital asset companies that had signaled IPO ambitions at the start of 2026 have since put those plans on hold. Kraken's parent company Payward, Ethereum software firm Consensys, hardware wallet manufacturer Ledger, and digital asset manager Grayscale have all paused or delayed their public listing efforts. The reasons cited include choppy crypto markets, declining trading volumes, and underwhelming post-IPO performance from recent crypto debuts.

This retreat is a sharp contrast to the optimism that defined early 2026, when executives across the crypto industry anticipated a wave of listings following the successful IPOs of Circle (CRCL) and Bullish (BLSH), the parent company of CoinDesk.

Making matters more challenging for crypto hopefuls is the magnetic pull of blockbuster AI-related offerings. The listing of SpaceX (SPCX) and anticipation of further high-profile tech IPOs have given institutional investors compelling alternatives for deploying growth capital — capital that might otherwise have flowed into digital assets. Market participants note that this rotation has weighed on token prices, crypto-linked equities, and overall appetite for new crypto public offerings.

Still, Goldman Sachs sees the broader IPO rebound as a healthy sign. The pickup in listings reflects growing confidence among corporate executives and equity investors alike, Snider said. The question on everyone's mind is whether this momentum will tip into the kind of irrational exuberance that historically precedes a market peak.

Some warning signs are present: valuations are stretched, investor sentiment is buoyant, and AI has emerged as a dominant narrative — echoing the tech-driven optimism of prior cycle tops. But for now, Goldman Sachs believes the numbers tell a more measured story, one of recovery rather than excess.