# Circle

> The tech stack for the agentic economy

Circle is a stablecoin issuer and payments infrastructure provider. It lets businesses and financial institutions issue, hold, and move digital dollars and euros, with developer services for building onchain applications.

Circle is a stablecoin issuer and payments infrastructure provider. It helps businesses and individuals use digital currencies for payments and commerce by providing blockchain-based financial infrastructure. Users can send and receive payments globally, store digital assets securely, and integrate digital currency capabilities into existing financial systems.

The company issues fiat-backed stablecoins alongside other digital assets, and institutions can mint and redeem them directly against bank transfers. A payments network connects participating financial institutions so they settle with each other across multiple blockchains, while an FX service quotes and settles conversions between stablecoins onchain. Circle is licensed and regulated in multiple jurisdictions and publishes reserve attestations for the assets it issues.

Developer services span embedded wallets, smart contract templates, crosschain transfer and unified balances, transaction fee sponsorship, and infrastructure for partners issuing their own asset-backed stablecoins. Circle also operates a stablecoin-native Layer 1 blockchain on which transaction fees are denominated in a stablecoin and settlement is deterministic. Its platform is used by banks, fintechs, payment providers, exchanges, and developers building onchain financial products.

- Type: Company
- Sector: Payments
- Status: Active
- Founded: 2013-10-01
- Profile: https://thegrid.id/profiles/Circle

## Products

- [Circle Programmable Wallets](https://thegrid.id/profiles/Circle): Circle Programmable Wallets is wallet-as-a-service infrastructure that lets developers embed secure wallet functionality into their applications through APIs and developer tools. The platform uses multi-party computation for key management and supports multiple authentication methods, including passkeys and social logins. A fee sponsorship service covers transaction costs across multiple supported blockchains. (Embedded Wallet, Open Beta)
- [Circle Mint](https://thegrid.id/profiles/Circle): Circle Mint provides institutional access to USDC and EURC issuance and redemption directly from Circle. The platform enables organizations to convert fiat currency to stablecoins with instant settlement through bank account integrations supporting wire, SEPA, and banking network transfers. Users can manage multi-user permissions, execute cross-blockchain transfers with near-instant settlement, and access API integration for automated minting and redemption workflows across multiple countries. (Stablecoin Issuer, Live, Main Product)
- [Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol](https://thegrid.id/profiles/Circle): CCTP is a permissionless on-chain utility that enables the flow of USDC across chains through native burning and minting. (Cross-chain Infrastructure, Live)
- [Circle Payments Network (CPN)](https://thegrid.id/profiles/Circle): Circle Payments Network (CPN) implements cross-chain settlement through a coordination protocol, enabling financial institutions to transfer funds globally using regulated stablecoins. The system connects diverse participants while maintaining compliance across multiple blockchains. (Payment network, Live)
- [USDC Bridge](https://thegrid.id/profiles/Circle): USDC Bridge is a Circle-operated interface for cross-chain USDC transfers. It uses CCTP's burn-and-mint mechanism to move native USDC between supported EVM chains without wrapped tokens or liquidity pools. Fees are displayed before confirmation, transfer progress is tracked in real time, and destination chain gas is handled automatically. (Bridge, Live)
- [Circle Gateway](https://thegrid.id/profiles/Circle): Circle Gateway provides a unified, chain-agnostic USDC balance through non-custodial smart contract deposits. Deposited USDC becomes instantly accessible across supported blockchains in under 500 ms, with a forwarding service automating destination chain minting, including on Solana. (Cross-chain Infrastructure, Live)
- [StableFX](https://thegrid.id/profiles/Circle): StableFX is a permissioned stablecoin FX platform enabling institutional clients to convert USDC and EURC through a Request-for-Quote model with onchain settlement on Arc. Approved liquidity providers submit competing quotes via an offchain execution engine, and settlement occurs through smart contract escrow ensuring payment-versus-payment finality. The platform serves payment service providers, fintechs, OTC desks, and prime brokers requiring 24/7 stablecoin FX execution. (Payments Infrastructure & Orchestration, Live)
- [Digital Asset Accounts](https://thegrid.id/profiles/Circle): Digital Asset Accounts is a white-label stablecoin account infrastructure enabling fintechs, platforms, and marketplaces to offer branded digital asset accounts to their business customers through Circle's APIs. Circle manages custody under a direct end-user custody model, handling KYB onboarding, AML and Travel Rule compliance, and fiat-to-stablecoin conversion. Accounts support wire deposits and withdrawals, crypto transfers across multiple chains, internal transfers, and gas fee abstraction. (Financial Services Platform, Live)

## Assets

- [USDC (USDC)](https://thegrid.id/profiles/Circle): USDC is a USD-pegged stablecoin issued by Circle. It is used for payments, remittances, and as a primary collateral asset in DeFi. Circle publishes monthly reserve attestations by a Big Four accounting firm, ensuring every token is backed 1:1 by cash and short-dated U.S. Treasuries held in regulated financial institutions. (Stablecoin)
- [EURC (EURC)](https://thegrid.id/profiles/Circle): EURC is a euro-pegged stablecoin issued by Circle. It is backed 100% by euro reserves held at regulated financial institutions in the European Economic Area with published monthly attestations, and businesses can use Circle Mint to convert euro to and from EURC. It is MiCA-compliant and operates under a full-reserve model, making it one of the first fully regulated stablecoins in the European Union where it is redeemable 1:1 for euros. (Stablecoin)
- [USYC (USYC)](https://thegrid.id/profiles/Circle): USYC is a yield-bearing token representing shares in the Hashnote International Short Duration Fund Ltd., issued by Circle. It is used to earn yield from short-term US Treasury Bills and reverse repurchase agreements, with returns accruing automatically through a rising token price. The token enables automated transactions through smart contracts and delivers around-the-clock access free from banking delays, allowing near real-time redemptions. (Vault Tokens)
- [cirBTC (cirBTC)](https://thegrid.id/profiles/Circle): cirBTC is a wrapped bitcoin token issued by Circle and backed 1:1 by native BTC. It is used by institutional participants such as OTC desks, market makers, and DeFi protocols that need bitcoin collateral onchain. Reserves are held by a qualified custodian and can be independently verified onchain in real time by any counterparty. (Wrapped Tokens)

## Links

- [Main](https://www.circle.com)
- [Blog](https://www.circle.com/en/pressroom)
- [Documentation](https://www.circle.com/en/developer)
- [Privacy policy](https://www.circle.com/legal/privacy-policy)
- [Terms of Service](https://www.circle.com/legal/user-agreement)
- [Event Calendar](https://luma.com/circleevents)
- [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/circle-internet-financial)
- [Twitter / X](https://x.com/circle)
- [Discord](https://discord.com/invite/buildoncircle)
- [GitHub](https://github.com/circlefin)
- [Twitter / X](https://x.com/BuildOnCircle)
- [Twitter / X](https://x.com/USDC)

## Relationships

- [Arc](https://thegrid.id/profiles/arc_network): Subsidiary

## Legal

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- [Attribution Guidelines](https://about.thegrid.id/legal/open-data-attribution-guidelines): How to attribute The Grid's data when using the open data service.
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- [All Legal Documents](https://about.thegrid.id/legal): Full index of terms, policies, and disclosures

## Optional

- [TGS Field Descriptions](https://github.com/The-Grid-Data/workspace-public/blob/main/references/tgs-field-descriptions.md): Schema field definitions for The Grid's data model
- [TGS JSON Structure](https://github.com/The-Grid-Data/workspace-public/blob/main/references/tgs-json-structure.md): Data model structure and relationships
- [Product Type Definitions](https://github.com/The-Grid-Data/workspace-public/blob/main/references/product-type-definitions.md): Definitions for each product type
- [Product Type Classification](https://github.com/The-Grid-Data/workspace-public/blob/main/references/product-type-classification.md): Guide for classifying products into types
- [Grid MCP Guide](https://github.com/The-Grid-Data/workspace-public/blob/main/grid-search/skills/grid-query/references/grid-mcp-guide.md): How to query The Grid programmatically via MCP