Circle secures $100M investment from Binance in enhanced USDC partnership
In a five-year expanded collaboration to advance USDC adoption, Circle issued $100 million worth of shares to Binance and committed to providing monthly performance-based incentives.
The stablecoin issuer Circle has received a $100 million equity investment from Binance through an enhanced five-year partnership agreement designed to advance USDC adoption across the cryptocurrency exchange's platform.
According to a filing submitted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday, Circle completed a private placement transaction with Binance on Sept. 17, selling 1,237,011 shares of Class A common stock at a price of $80.84 per share. The share price represented a discounted rate compared to Circle's trading value prior to the deal's completion.
Shares of CRCL, which trade on the New York Stock Exchange, experienced an increase of more than 1.3% during Tuesday's premarket trading session following Monday's closing price of $94.29 per share, based on data from Yahoo Finance.
The partnership agreement stipulates that Circle will provide Binance with monthly incentive payments calculated according to the volume of USDC maintained through Circle's Modular Smart Contract Wallet infrastructure. In return, Binance has committed to executing additional promotional initiatives for USDC across its exchange platform.
The agreement includes provisions preventing Binance from selling, transferring, assigning, pledging or hypothecating its Circle shares for a maximum period of two years. This lockup restriction may be lifted prematurely if Binance chooses to terminate the commercial partnership under specific conditions. Throughout the lockup duration, Binance maintains full voting rights associated with the shares.
This new arrangement supersedes previous agreements that the two companies established in November 2024 and August 2025. The partnership carries a five-year duration, though both parties reserve the right to terminate the agreement ahead of schedule under designated circumstances.