Circle, Binance Enter Partnership to Push for USDC Adoption

Stablecoin issuer Circle and crypto exchange Binance announced a partnership on Wednesday to expand adoption of Circle’s USDC stablecoin, by making it more “extensively available” across Binance’s trading products and other services.

The announcement is notable given the previously frosty relationship between the two firms. In 2022, Binance decided to automatically convert users’ USDC on its platform into Binance’s BUSD stablecoins, hurting Circle’s market share. But in 2023, New York regulators ordered a winddown of Binance’s BUSD. The new partnership could help Circle catch up with Tether, which is the world’s biggest stablecoin and commonly used on Binance.

Binance will also hold Circle’s USDC, which is backed by cash and government debt and designed to maintain a peg to the U.S. dollar, for its own corporate treasury. Circle declined to disclose terms of the partnership with Binance, including whether there’s a revenue-sharing agreement. Circle currently shares a portion of the interest income generated by stablecoin reserve assets with Coinbase, its main distribution partner.