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Circle increased the fees it charges for near-instant cash outs of its USDC stablecoin on the Circle Mint platform for the second time in 2024. Circle Mint enables wholesale providers such as exchanges, institutional traders, wallet providers, banks, and large financial institutions to directly redeem USDC 1:1 for USD from Circle. Circle Mint is not available to individuals. All USDC redemptions used to be free and unlimited, but in February 2024 a 0.1% fee on near-instant redemptions above $15 million was imposed on Circle Mint customers. Under the new fee schedule, Circle Mint customers processing more than $2 million net in daily redemptions will incur a fee that starts at 0.03% and increases in tranches to as much as 0.10% for redemptions above $15 million. Basic redemption, which offers a fee-free option, regardless of transaction volume, remains available to all Circle Mint customers as well, but processing can take up to two business days. https://help.circle.com/s/article/USDC-redemption-structure?language=en_US&category=Fees_and_Billing

Matt Taibbi asks some tough questions about the sanctity of the reserve assets that back Circles USDC stablecoin, and the issue of bankruptcy remoteness. Circle is unlike some competitors, whose user agreements specifically spell out that reserves are, say, "fully backed by US dollars held by Paxos Trust Company, LLC," or "custodied pursuant to the Custody Agreement entered into by and between you and Gemini Trust Company, LLC." Those describe trust agreements, which are truly bankruptcy remote. However, Circle is not a trust, so customers  are guarded only by protections afforded under state money transmission laws. However, Circle is only regulated  as a money transmitter in the states where Circle has licenses, and the firm has obtained licenses only in those states were licenses are required. There are other reasons to be concerned as a USDC hodler, and I recommend reading the whole post.

Circle, a key supporter of the USDC stablecoin, received an "investigative subpoena" from the U.S. Securities and Exchange (SEC) Enforcement Division in July 2021. The subpoena arrived one month after Circle began onboarding corporate USDC holders into its first high-interest yield product, Circle Yield. The subpoena requests "documents and information regarding certain of our holdings, customer programs, and operations," but Circle did not elaborate on what the SEC's investigation was focused on.

USDC stablecoin issuer Circle has acquired Hashnote, the issuer of the largest tokenized money market fund (TMMF), USYC. Circle intends to fully integrate USYC with USDC, offering seamless 24/7/365 access between TMMF collateral and USDC. The deal is bolstered by a strategic partnership with institutional crypto trader DRW via its subsidiary Cumberland, which incubated Hashnote. Cumberland will expand its institutional-grade liquidity and settlement capabilities in USDC and USYC, where permitted. https://www.circle.com/pressroom/circle-announces-acquisition-of-hashnote-and-usyc-tokenized-money-market-fund-alongside-strategic-partnership-with-global-trading-firm-drw

JP Koning writes about USD Coin transparency, focusing on the nature of its "approved investments." "What are these investments? How many does it own? Circle, USDC's issuer, has never disclosed much information on them. Because Circle is regulated by 44 state licensing boards, and each board has its own permissible investment rules (some very lenient), it's very difficult to reverse-engineer what USDC's "approved investments" might be comprised of. Responding to an inquiry, Circle said that they own 'cash, cash equivalents and short-duration investment-grade assets.' This gives us a bit more of an idea about the nature of Circle's approved investments. But why not get even more transparent? It would be a big win for stablecoin consumers if Circle provided descriptions of its approved investments in subsequent attestation reports, and broke down what proportion of customers' funds are allocated to each bucket."

Circle has launched a mainnet protocol that lets users transfer its USDC stablecoin between Ethereum and Avalanche. Previously, Avalanche users who held USDC on Ethereum had to deposit their coins with a Circle partner or use a third-party bridge to transfer their USDC from one network to the other. The new Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP) protocol appears to do away with this need for USDC bridges. Unlike a traditional bridge, it doesn't lock tokens sent to its contract. Instead, it completely destroys them and issues new tokens on the receiving network. Users can redeem these new tokens for bank deposits directly, by depositing the tokens with Circle or its partners.

Tether and Circle, the issuers of USDT and USDC, have both moved to allay fears that their US dollar-pegged stablecoins are directly exposed to the fallout from the FTX debacle. CTO Paolo Ardoino said that Tether has no exposure to FTX or Alameda, although Alameda has previously redeemed a lot of USDT, but no credit exposure has matured. CEO Jeremy Allaire said that Circle has never made loans to FTX or Alameda, and has never received FTX's native token, FTT, as collateral, nor has it ever traded or held a position in FTT. Interestingly, both USDT and USDC became briefly unpegged today (November 10, 2022), with USDT spiking down, and Circle spiking up

Circle has introduced a new standard to streamline the process of launching its USDC stablecoin. The new "bridged USDC standard" allows developers to launch the token through a two-phase process. In the first phase, the third-party developer has control of the token contracts, and the token on the new network is backed by a native version on another network. In the second phase, Circle takes control of the contracts, and the token becomes backed directly by Circle's reserves. The second phase may not occur with all deployments. https://www.circle.com/blog/bridged-usdc-standard

USDC stablecoin issuer Circle announced that it will "cover any shortfall" caused as a result of the $3.3 billion in its funds held by the collapsed Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). Circle said it is legally obliged to "stand behind" USDC and will cover any shortfall using corporate resources-and external capital if necessary. USDC is currently collateralized 77% ($32.4 billion) with short-term U.S. Treasury Bills and 23% ($9.7 billion) with commercial bank deposits ($5.4 billion with BNY Mellon, $3.3 billion at SVB, and $1 billion at Consumer Bank). Circle also maintains USDC transaction and settlement accounts with Signature Bank.

Circle Internet Financial, a global internet finance firm and the issuer of USD Coin (USDC) has entered into an agreement for a $400 million funding round with investments from BlackRock, Fidelity, Marshall Wace LLP and Fin Capital. The funding round is expected to close in the second quarter. In addition to its corporate strategic investment and role as a primary asset manager of USDC cash reserves, BlackRock has entered into a broader strategic partnership with Circle, which includes exploring capital market applications for USDC.

Circle's Singapore affiliate received its Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) Major Payment Institution (MPI) license for digital payment token services in Singapore, after having obtained in-principle approval last November. It allows Circle Singapore to offer digital payment token services, cross-border money transfer services and domestic money transfer services in the city-state. Circle is the issuer of USDC stablecoin.

Circle, the issuer of the USD Coin (USDC) dollar-pegged stablecoin, is launching a EUR-backed stablecoin (EUROC) on June 30. EUROC will be 100% backed by euros held in euro-denominated banking accounts so that it's always redeemable 1:1 for euros. Businesses will be able to mint EUROC straight from the source by depositing euros into their Circle Account using Silvergate's Euro SEN network, after which it will be available to non-Circle Account users via digital asset exchanges and DeFi protocols. Additional deposit options are expected to be available later this year. EUROC will be issued as an ERC-20 token on the Ethereum blockchain, with support for additional blockchains expected later this year.

Circle will be launching the Circle Payments Network (CPN) to connect financial institutions to enable real-time settlement of cross-border payments using regulated stablecoins. CPN will require participants to meet strict eligibility standards, including licensing, AML/CFT compliance, financial risk management, and cybersecurity protocols. By leveraging USDC, EURC, and other regulated stablecoins, CPN will enable seamless connectivity to domestic real-time payment systems worldwide, while upholding the compliance, security, and trust required for financial institutions to meet their regulatory obligations. Powered by smart contract infrastructure and modular APIs, the network will enable third-party developers to build advanced modules, app services, and automated financial workflows directly on top of CPN.

"Circle APIs offer major payment rails like cards, wires and blockchain transfers - offering multiple ways for users to transfer money and transact with USDC, the world's fastest growing dollar stablecoin. Today, Circle is adding ACH as a payment rail, with comprehensive support available across both Payments and Payouts products. Customers can enable their users to make and receive payments using ACH, with seamless conversions into and out of USDC."

The Algorand Foundation has announced that the USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin will be launched on the Algorand (ALGO) blockchain. The integration will allow customers using Circle APIs or Circle Business Accounts to convert funds from their bank account or card network into stable tokens on the Algorand blockchain.

"Stablecoin issuer Circle said that it is partnering with financial data aggregator Plaid to make it easier for consumers to move their money out of the bank and into Circle's USDC. Like its partnership with Visa, working with Plaid is another way for Circle to become more deeply integrated with networks that allow users to move faster between fiat and dollar-backed crypto tokens via the Automated Clearing House (ACH) network."

Circle launched its Euro Coin on Avalanche, the first in a series of expected multi-chain launches, following the initial launch on Ethereum last year (2022). Circle currently maintains two fiat-based stablecoins, USD Coin (with a market capitalization of about $29 billion), and Euro Coin ($48 million).

"Binance's move to automatically convert USDC and two other stablecoins may lead to more USDC flowing into the exchange, according to the CEO of Circle, which issues the coin. "Binance is trying to consolidate dollar liquidity w cash equivalent stables. That's good for liquidity and market depth," said Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire on Twitter."

Ripple has reportedly bid up to $5 billion in an effort to acquire stablecoin issuer Circle, but the offer was rejected because it was too low. The reported attempt came less than 30 days after Circle applied for an initial public offering (IPO) in the US. Ripple reportedly had an $11 billion valuation in 2024, an estimate CEO Brad Garlinghouse called "outdated" as of January. The blockchain company purchased prime broker Hidden Road for roughly $1.2 billion in April, claiming the move would help scale activity for XRP and XRP Ledger.

After initially focusing on retail-oriented crypto businesses, Circle has been pouring more resources its so-called stablecoin known as USDC. In December, the Boston-based company sold its Circle Trade over-the-counter trading business to crypto exchange Kraken. It previously unloaded its Poloniex exchange.