Binance invests $100 million in Circle under five-year USDC pact

On Tuesday, Binance announced a $100 million investment in Circle, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, as part of a new five-year pact to expand USDC's global reach. Circle will supply the technology, while Binance will use its global user base to promote USDC adoption, particularly in developing markets. Binance purchased ordinary shares in Circle at a 5% discount, making it a part-owner of the company, and agreed not to sell or transfer the shares for up to two years. The investment builds on a strategic partnership the companies announced in December 2024. Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said the companies saw opportunities to use USDC to expand access to dollars. Binance co-CEO Richard Teng said the investment reflected the exchange's long-duration conviction in Circle. Stablecoins are designed to maintain a steady value by being linked to the U.S. dollar or another government-issued currency. Their combined value has risen above $306 billion, according to data analytics platform DeFiLlama, after the passage in 2025 of the Genius Act, which provides a federal framework for stablecoins. Circle is one of the largest regulated stablecoin companies in the United States. USDC has a market capitalization of nearly $76 billion and is the second-largest stablecoin after Tether's USDT, which has a market capitalization of roughly $183 billion. The partnership reverses a rivalry that intensified in late 2022, when Binance ended support for USDC trading and sought to direct users toward its own digital dollar, Binance USD, or BUSD. BUSD was issued by the regulated financial firm Paxos, and Binance automatically converted customers' existing USDC balances into BUSD. Circle initially questioned that decision publicly, although Allaire later downplayed its effects in a social media post. In February 2023, the New York Department of Financial Services ordered Paxos to stop minting BUSD after raising concerns about its oversight of the company's relationship with Binance. Paxos later said it would end its partnership with Binance, and Binance began winding down support for BUSD products. Binance and Circle publicly announced their strategic partnership roughly a year later.