EMERGING TECH
EMERGING TECH
EMERGING TECH
After raising $110M, Circle raises announces new US dollar-linked cryptocurrency
Bitcoin and blockchain startup Circle Internet Financial, Inc. has raised $110 million in new funding as a “strategic investment” while also announcing its intent to launch a new cryptocurrency tied to the U.S. dollar.
The new round announced Tuesday, the first since 2016, was led by Bitmain, with the participation of IDG Capital, Breyer Capital, General Catalyst, Accel, Digital Currency Group, Pantera, Blockchain Capital and Tusk Ventures.
Founded in 2013 by Jeremy Allaire, best known as the founder of video service BrightCove, Circle in 2018 is a difficult company to describe other than noting that all of its activities relate back to the use of blockchain technology.
In 2016 Circle was best described as a consumer finance company utilizing blockchain technology, but today it is that and more. The company offers a cryptocurrency investment service, a payment service that offers international transfers called Circle Pay, an over-the-counter service for cryptotrading called Circle Trade, and Polinex, the cryptocurrency exchange it acquired in February.
Along with the funding, Circle also announced its plans to launch USDC — as in U.S. Dollar Coin, a Ethereum-based token that will be tied to the price of the U.S. dollar. Pitched as “a solution that enables customers to purchase and use USDC fiat tokens for payments and trading in the crypto ecosystem,” the token will be backed by physical U.S. dollars held in reserve, making it what Circle refers to as an “open source fiat stablecoin.”
Backing USDC will be a new group called CENTRE that will provide independent oversight of USDC’s development, promotion, stability and its guarantee of being tied to actual U.S. dollar reserves. Bitmain will be a founding member of CENTRE.
Including the new funding, Circle has raised $246 million to date. The valuation on the round was not officially revealed, but Coinbase reported the new round was raised on a $3 billion valuation, making Circle the second blockchain-focused startup to obtain “unicorn” status after Coinbase Inc.
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