Global financial technology firm Circle has closed a $440 million funding round – putting them in the top 10 largest private FinTech investments ever – to fuel its rapid growth and company expansion.
Circle enables businesses of all sizes to harness the power of stablecoins and public blockchains for payments, commerce and financial applications worldwide. Cirlce claimed that its platform has supported over 100 million transactions worth tens of billions of dollars, with nearly 10 million retail customers, over a thousand businesses, while storing and securing more than $5 billion in digital currency assets. Circle is also a principal developer of USD Coin (USDC), which together with Coinbase and the Centre Consortium oversees the standards and protocol for what has become the fastest growing, regulated, fully reserved stable coin.
The financing included investments from leading private equity, institutional and strategic investors, including Fidelity Management and Research Company, Marshall Wace, Willett Advisors, Intersection Fintech Ventures, Atlas Merchant Capital, Digital Currency Group, FTX, Breyer Capital, Valor Capital Group, Pillar VC, as well as Michael J. Price and Friends.
The money will be used to meet significant global demand for its products and services aimed at marrying the existing financial system with breakthroughs in digital currency within payments and finance. Underpinning this growth is Circle’s principal contribution in the rapid rise of USD Coin, or USDC, as the world’s most trusted and fastest growing dollar digital currency, which now stands at $22 billion in circulation. USDC has grown by 436% in 2021 alone, and over 28,000% over the past 12 months.
“As a company, Circle has remained committed to our mission of raising global economic prosperity through the power of digital currency, blockchains and breakthroughs in programmable money. The sustained global demand for our services powering the growth of USDC, as the most trusted and well regulated dollar digital currency, signals that we are one step closer to achieving our mission. With powerful backers who are committed to our mission and vision, we will redouble our efforts to expand into new markets, continue driving fundamental technology innovation and grow our team,” said Jeremy Allaire, Circle co-founder and CEO.
“Circle has been a pioneer in unlocking the potential of blockchain-enabled payments. With USDC’s extraordinary growth, Circle has established itself at the center of a new generation of financial services and applications. We are proud to continue to partner with Circle to develop a better global financial system,” said Barry Silbert, Founder and CEO of Digital Currency Group.
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