Circle Buys IBM Blockchain Patent Portfolio

Circle Internet Group, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, has acquired fundamental assets from IBM's blockchain patent portfolio, the company said in a press release dated July 27.

The portfolio comprises over 680 patent families and nearly 1,000 issued patents worldwide, spanning foundational blockchain technology, banking, financial services, insurance, enterprise infrastructure, supply chain verification, and secure cloud operations, according to the release. Circle did not disclose the financial terms.

Circle said the deal makes it "the leader in blockchain patent holdings in the United States." The company said the expanded intellectual property position supports its work on USDC, Circle Payments Network, and Arc, an enterprise blockchain it is building.

Circle posted the announcement on its verified X account, saying the acquisition "strengthens the foundation behind USDC, CPN, Arc, and onchain financial infrastructure."

"Intellectual property is critical to advancing our mission and expanding adoption of onchain infrastructure," Sarah Wilson, Circle's general counsel and corporate secretary, said in the release. "IBM has been a pioneer in technological innovation, and this acquisition expands Circle's ability to advance the infrastructure that powers global, internet-native finance."

Circle and IBM also plan to explore additional commercial opportunities, the company said, without elaborating.

USDC, the second-largest stablecoin, has a circulating market capitalization of $72.50 billion, according to CoinGecko data retrieved on July 27. Circle trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker CRCL following its public listing.

The patent purchase adds to a run of expansion moves by Circle, which recently won final approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for a national trust bank and raised $222 million in a presale for its Arc blockchain. Circle did not detail how it plans to deploy the acquired patents.