Circle

Circle issues USDC and EURC stablecoins and builds financial infrastructure for businesses and developers to integrate digital money into payments, commerce, and applications. Both stablecoins are backed 1:1 by cash and highly liquid cash equivalents. Its developer platform includes wallets, smart contracts, and crosschain connectivity, while Circle Payments Network connects financial institutions so they can communicate and settle directly with one another. Circle Gateway provides a unified USDC balance across supported blockchains, including small payments for API access and autonomous agents.

Jeremy Allaire and Sean Neville founded Circle in 2013, initially focusing on making Bitcoin accessible for consumer payments; Allaire remains CEO. Its Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol, CCTP, moves native USDC between blockchains by burning tokens on the source chain, obtaining a signature from Circle’s offchain attestation service, and minting on the destination chain. This infrastructure serves wallets, exchanges, decentralized finance applications, and bridge providers.

Circle became publicly traded through its 2025 IPO and trades as NYSE: CRCL. Its business earns most of its revenue from income on assets backing its stablecoins, with distribution partners such as Coinbase receiving a share of reserve income. At the end of Q2 2026, the company reported $73.3 billion in USDC circulation and 175 financial institutions enrolled in Circle Payments Network.