Circle Internet Group, Inc. (CRCL)

Circle, founded in 2013, operates an internet financial platform anchored by its stablecoin network, with a mission to raise global economic prosperity through the frictionless exchange of value. The company builds products that let individuals and enterprises exchange value over open blockchain networks in a safe, trusted and regulated manner, integrated with the existing financial system. Its revenue is primarily driven by reserve income earned on the assets backing its stablecoins.

The platform is organized around three pillars. Arc Blockchain and Developer Infrastructure includes Arc, an open Layer-1 blockchain currently in public testnet, with stablecoin-based gas fees, permissioned validators, sub-second deterministic finality and configurable privacy. It also includes developer tools such as Circle Wallets and Circle Contracts, and interoperability services such as CCTP and Gateway. Circle Digital Assets and Services covers the USDC and EURC payment stablecoins, which are redeemable one-for-one for U.S. dollars and euros, and USYC, a tokenized money market fund that provides yield and is issued to eligible non-U.S. customers out of Bermuda. It also covers Circle Mint, which provides institutional minting, redemption and custody, and xReserve, a subscription-based interoperability service for blockchain teams. Circle Applications includes Circle Payments Network (CPN), launched in May 2025 for stablecoin-based cross-border and other institutional payments, and StableFX, a stablecoin foreign exchange engine built on Arc that is currently in beta.

Customers and participants include thousands of companies: consumer wallets and applications, AI agent developers, digital asset exchanges, traditional exchanges and clearing houses, custodians, blockchain networks, onchain protocols, banks and neo-banks, payments companies, card networks, remittance providers, market makers and over-the-counter liquidity providers. Circle Mint serves vetted institutional customers, and CPN serves banks, payment service providers and enterprises. USDC had more than $75 billion in circulation as of December 31, 2025, is natively integrated on 30 public blockchains, and has banking integrations in more than 185 countries. Circle says it has facilitated more than $53.3 trillion between the traditional banking system and digital payment rails since 2018. It competes with traditional payment systems and networks, alternative stablecoin issuers, and technology startups serving blockchain developers.

Circle describes its approach as regulation-first. It is subject to U.S. federal and state regimes, including money transmitter licensing, FinCEN money services business registration and the New York BitLicense, and it holds a Bermuda Monetary Authority DABA license. The GENIUS Act, signed July 18, 2025, sets a federal framework for payment stablecoins and takes effect by January 18, 2027 at the latest. In December 2025 Circle received preliminary conditional OCC approval to establish a national trust bank, which is expected to manage the USDC reserve and offer custody services. The company relies on settlement banks for primary liquidity, acquired Hashnote in January 2025, and publishes reserve and circulation reporting with third-party assurance.