cryptocurrency
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Circle says it plans to become a national crypto bank

CEO Jeremy Allaire says the move will lead to a "safer, more resilient financial system."

Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire is an advocate for stablecoins
Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire is an advocate for stablecoins.
Photo: Heidi Gutman/CNBC/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images

Circle, creator of the USD Coin, on Monday unveiled plans to become a federally-chartered commercial bank.

The cryptocurrency company, which just announced plans to go public in a $4.5 billion SPAC deal, "intends to become a full-reserve national commercial bank" based on the requirements set by the Federal Reserve, U.S. Treasury, the OCC and the FDIC, co-founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire said in a blog post.

"We believe that full-reserve banking, built on digital currency technology, can lead to not just a radically more efficient, but also a safer, more resilient financial system," he said.

Founded in 2013, Circle is a major player in the cryptocurrency industry for issuing and maintaining the USD Coin stablecoin.

 Benjamin Pimentel

Benjamin Pimentel ( @benpimentel) covers crypto and fintech from San Francisco. He has reported on many of the biggest tech stories over the past 20 years for the San Francisco Chronicle, Dow Jones MarketWatch and Business Insider, from the dot-com crash, the rise of cloud computing, social networking and AI to the impact of the Great Recession and the COVID crisis on Silicon Valley and beyond. He can be reached at bpimentel@protocol.com or via Google Voice at (925) 307-9342.

usd coin cryptocurrency
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