Binance is deepening its ties with Circle. On Tuesday, the crypto exchange announced a $100 million investment in the issuer of USDC as part of a new five-year pact to broaden the stablecoin’s global reach. Circle will supply the technology, while Binance will use its global user base to expand USDC adoption, particularly in developing markets.
Under the terms of the deal, Binance purchased ordinary shares in Circle, making the exchange a part-owner of the company behind USDC. Binance acquired the shares at a 5% discount and agreed not to sell or transfer them for up to two years. The investment expands on a strategic partnership the two companies first announced in December 2024.
“Together, we see incredible opportunities to leverage USDC to expand dollar access,” said Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire in a statement.
Binance co-CEO Richard Teng said the $100 million investment reflects the exchange’s “long-duration conviction” in Circle.
The deal comes as stablecoins have emerged as one of crypto’s strongest growth stories. Designed to hold a steady value by being linked to the U.S. dollar or another government-issued currency, these tokens have been around for over a decade, but have grown rapidly over the last two years amid a more favorable regulatory climate.
Following the passage in 2025 of the Genius Act, a law that provides a federal framework for stablecoins, the sector’s combined value has climbed above $306 billion, according to data analytics platform DeFiLlama.
Circle is one of the largest regulated stablecoin companies in the United States. Its USDC token has a market capitalization of nearly $76 billion, making it the second-largest stablecoin after Tether’s USDT, which has a market cap of roughly $183 billion, and is used almost entirely in overseas markets.
The growing partnership between Binance and Circle also marks a sharp reversal from a few years ago, when the two firms were locked in a contentious rivalry.
In late 2022, Binance cut off support for USDC trading as it sought to steer users towards its own custom digital dollar, known as Binance USD, or BUSD, which was issued by the regulated financial firm Paxos. The exchange automatically converted customers’ existing USDC balances into BUSD. Circle initially publicly questioned Binance’s decision, though Allaire later downplayed the effects in a social media post.
The rivalry did not last. In February 2023, the New York Department of Financial Services ordered Paxos to stop minting BUSD after raising concerns about the company’s oversight of its relationship with Binance. Paxos later said it would end its partnership with Binance, and the exchange began winding down support for BUSD products. Roughly a year later, Binance and Circle publicly announced their strategic partnership.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
