Circle

Jeremy Allaire and Sean Neville founded Circle in 2013. The company initially sought to make BitcoinBitcoinBitcoin (common symbol BTC) is an open peer-to-peer electronic cash protocol, network, and native digital asset. Full nodes independently verify transactions and blocks according to the consensus rules; transactions are recorded as UTXOs, and blocks are organized into a public ledger through proof of work. Bitcoin is not issued or managed by any single institution, but using, holding in custody, and trading it still involve key, privacy, market, and legal risks.Open the full entry easier for ordinary consumers to use: users could deposit local currency and convert it to bitcoin, or exchange bitcoin in their accounts for local currency and withdraw it to a bank account. In May 2014, Circle demonstrated its first product at Bitcoin 2014 in Amsterdam, initially opening access gradually by invitation.⁠[1]

On September 22, 2015, Circle received the first BitLicense issued by the New York State Department of Financial Services. The license marked a step in its early entry into regulated virtual-currency services.⁠[2]

On September 26, 2018, Circle announced the launch of the dollar stablecoin USDC, becoming the first commercial issuer under the CENTRE framework. Initially using EthereumEthereumEthereum is an open, general-purpose smart contract blockchain that launched in 2015, and its native asset is ether (ETH). The project was proposed by Vitalik Buterin and advanced jointly by eight co-founders; the network now uses proof of stake and centers on the EVM, the account model, a rollup scaling roadmap, and the open EIP process.Open the full entry’s ERC-20 standard, USDC could be obtained by institutional users depositing dollars or redeemed for dollars. The issuance framework required fiat reserves backing outstanding tokens and regular reserve attestations by independent accounting firms.⁠[3]

In 2019, Circle curtailed several businesses, selling and spinning out Poloniex, ending its Circle Pay consumer payments service, and selling its Circle Trade over-the-counter trading business to KrakenKrakenKraken is a digital-asset trading platform founded in 2011 by Jesse Powell and Thanh Luu and launched for trading in 2013. As Payward’s flagship brand, it has expanded into spot and derivatives trading, equities, tokenized assets, custody and payments through jurisdiction-specific entities.Open the full entry. In December, it announced that its next phase would focus on USDC, payment and custody infrastructure, and enterprise wallets and related APIs. Sean Neville subsequently left the co-CEO role while remaining a director at the time.⁠[4]

In an official interview published in April 2021, Allaire identified enterprise payments and treasury management as directions for Circle. He said internet businesses would seek digital-currency financial infrastructure to move funds globally more easily and manage their treasuries. His remarks about future adoption were expectations at that time.⁠[5]

In June 2022, Circle announced the euro stablecoin Euro Coin (EUROC, subsequently named EURC), with issuance on Ethereum and access for institutional customers planned from June 30. Backed by euro-denominated reserves, the product was intended for uses including euro payments and onchain trading.⁠[6]

On December 5, 2022, Circle and special-purpose acquisition company Concord Acquisition Corp agreed to terminate their proposed business combination. Initially announced in July 2021 and amended in February 2022, the transaction did not complete because its S-4 registration statement had not become effective before the deadline.⁠[7]

After Silicon Valley BankSilicon Valley BankSilicon Valley Bank was a state-chartered commercial bank founded in California in 1983 and headquartered in Santa Clara. It was the principal subsidiary of the holding company SVB Financial Group, and its clients were concentrated among technology and life sciences companies and venture capital firms. In March 2023, after it announced a securities sale and a capital-raising plan, it suffered a massive run, was closed by California regulators, and was placed into receivership with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. U.S. regulators invoked a systemic risk exception to protect all of its deposits, its deposits and loans were then assumed by First Citizens, its parent entered bankruptcy reorganization, and the regulatory reviews and litigation that followed the failure continued into 2026.Open the full entry failed in March 2023, USDC temporarily traded below one dollar on secondary markets. Circle disclosed that $3.3 billion, approximately 8% of USDC reserves, was held at the bank. The U.S.United StatesThe United States is a federal country in North America made up of 50 states, the District of Columbia as the seat of government, and territories such as Puerto Rico and Guam; its capital is Washington, D.C. The Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The 2020 census (April 1, 2020) counted a resident population of 331,449,281, and the 435 seats of the House of Representatives are apportioned among the states on the basis of the census.Open the full entry government subsequently announced protection for deposits, and Circle said the funds would become available on Monday. The event demonstrated the connection between a stablecoin’s onchain circulation and its bank reserves and redemption channels.⁠[8][9]

On April 26, Circle launched its Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP) on Ethereum and Avalanche. The process burns native USDC on the source chain, obtains a signed attestation of the burn from Circle, and mints the same amount on the destination chain. Applications can use this process for cross-chain payments, trading and transfers.⁠[10]

In August, Circle and Coinbase revised their USDC arrangements. Centre ceased to exist as a separate entity, and Circle assumed responsibilities including USDC governance, smart-contract key management, reserves and compliance. CoinbaseCoinbaseCoinbase is a U.S. operator of crypto asset trading platforms, founded in 2012 by Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam, whose listed parent is Coinbase Global, Inc.; it went public through a direct listing on Nasdaq (ticker COIN) in April 2021 and joined the S&P 500 in May 2025. It provides crypto trading, custody, staking, and stablecoin-related services, launched USDC with Circle, develops the Ethereum layer-2 network Base, and acquired the crypto options exchange Deribit in 2025; its venture investing operates as Coinbase Ventures.Open the full entry took an equity stake in Circle, and the companies continued sharing USDC reserve-related income under new commercial arrangements.⁠[11]

On July 1, 2024, Circle announced that its French entity had received an Electronic Money Institution license from France’s Autorité de Contrôle Prudentiel et de Résolution (ACPR). It began issuing USDC and EURC under the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework and providing Circle Mint issuance and redemption services to European businesses.⁠[12]

In January 2025, Circle acquired USYC issuer Hashnote and announced a partnership with DRW’s Cumberland. USYC is a tokenized money-market-fund product. Circle planned to connect it with USDC so institutions could move between a payment stablecoin and yield-bearing collateral.⁠[13]

On April 21, Circle announced Circle Payments Network (CPN), connecting financial institutions such as banks, payment service providers and digital wallets with cross-border payments and local settlement channels using stablecoins including USDC and EURC. Limited availability was initially planned for May. Operator Circle Technology Services provides connection and communication technology without holding funds or managing customer accounts for participants, which settle directly with one another.⁠[14]

On June 5, 2025, Circle began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under CRCL and completed its initial public offering the following day. Its SECU.S. Securities and Exchange CommissionThe U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is the federal securities regulator of the United States. Created during the Great Depression by the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and led by five commissioners, it has a three-part mission of protecting investors, maintaining fair, orderly and efficient markets, and facilitating capital formation.Open the full entry filing states that 34 million shares were offered at $31 each: 14.8 million sold by the company and 19.2 million by existing shareholders.⁠[15][16]

In the initial offering, Circle itself received gross proceeds of $458.8 million before underwriting discounts, commissions and offering expenses. Proceeds from the selling shareholders’ shares did not go to the company. Its listing documents gave One World Trade Center in New York as the location of its principal executive offices.⁠[16]

On July 10, 2026, Circle announced final approval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the CurrencyOffice of the Comptroller of the CurrencyThe Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is an independent U.S. Treasury bureau that supervises national banks and other institutions.Open the full entry (OCC) to establish First National Digital Currency Bank, N.A., operating as Circle National Trust. According to the announcement, the bank would initially provide fiduciary digital-asset custody for Circle and its affiliates upon opening. Managing USDC reserves remained a planned future capability; approval did not mean those operations had already moved to the trust bank.⁠[17]

Results for the second quarter of 2026, released in August, showed $73.3 billion of USDC in circulation at the end of June, quarterly total revenue and reserve income of $701 million, and net income from continuing operations of $48 million. Reserve income of $668 million remained the main component. Circle also reported 175 financial institutions enrolled in CPN and $14.7 billion in annualized transaction volume based on the last 30 days of the quarter. That annualized measure was not an actual full-year transaction total.⁠[18]

On August 28, Circle and Chelsea FC announced a partnership under which the USDC brand would appear on the fronts of the club’s men’s, women’s and academy shirts from the 2026/27 season as part of their commercial arrangement.⁠[19]

On September 8, Circle announced an agreement to acquire Singapore-based cross-border payments platform Tazapay to expand enterprise payments and local on- and off-ramp capabilities. It expected the transaction to close in 2027, subject to Monetary Authority of Singapore approval and other closing conditions.⁠[20]

On September 16, Circle announced the launch of Arc’s public mainnet. Arc is an Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible Layer 1 blockchain with network fees paid in USDC. It initially uses a permissioned validator model with phased institutional participation. The announcement described optional transaction privacy as still in development.⁠[21]

The same announcement disclosed that Arc had minted an initial supply of 10 billion ARC tokens at genesis, while explicitly stating that this did not constitute a commitment to a public token launch. A transition to proof of stake and related token uses remained under exploration and planning for 2027.⁠[21]

As of September 30, Circle reported digital assets with total fair value of $133.355 million: approximately 379.9 million Canton Coin worth $47.987 million; 504,210 HyperliquidHyperliquidHyperliquid is a layer-one blockchain designed from scratch for financial trading. It uses its own HyperBFT consensus, has perpetual futures and spot order books built into the chain (HyperCore), and offers an Ethereum-compatible smart contract environment (HyperEVM); its native token is HYPE. Launched in 2023, it became one of the largest decentralized perpetual futures venues thanks to its fully onchain order books, and later opened permissionless deployment of perpetual markets on commodities, stock indices and FX, as well as outcome markets, through HIP-3 and HIP-4.Open the full entry tokens worth $45.880 million; 77 bitcoin worth $6.390 million, including about $3.3 million in cirBTC; 4,098,935 Sui worth $4.765 million; 1,728 ether worth $4.637 million; and other assets worth $23.696 million. About $2.7 million of assets were subject to transfer restrictions expiring between October 2026 and May 2030.⁠[22]

The filing disclosed second-quarter agreements with institutional investors to sell 807.5 million ARC tokens at $0.30 each for approximately $242.2 million. Circle recognized about $181.8 million of revenue in the third quarter, with the remainder deferred within other current liabilities. This included a May 8 agreement with an affiliate of IDG Capital, a beneficial owner of over 5% of Circle’s stock, for 83.3 million ARC tokens at $25 million.⁠[22]