Circle Says $1 Billion in Cash Serves as Buffer While Market Share Declines
- CEO expects payments, financial firms to push for stablecoins
- USD Coin market cap plunges this year while rival Tether gains
Jeremy Allaire
Photographer: Hollie Adams/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Circle Internet Financial is counting on a more than $1 billion cash cushion to help weather fresh competition from non-crypto companies such as PayPal Holdings Inc. while it seeks to stem a deepening decline in the market share of the second-largest stablecoin.
The amount of Circle’s USD Coin in circulation has plunged to about $26 billion from $45 billion at the beginning of the year. Tether, the biggest stablecoin, has grown during the same period. The decline is being partly driven by a decision about a year ago by the world’s biggest crypto exchange, Binance, to pull back from using USD Coin to drive usage of its own token, Jeremy Allaire, chief executive officer of Circle, said in an interview with Bloomberg News.