Circle Inks Partnership With Binance and Expands MENA Operations

The world’s second-largest stablecoin issuer has inked a strategic partnership with the largest centralized exchange.

On Dec. 11, Binance announced that it has teamed up with Circle on a partnership to expand the adoption of the USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin.

Binance will adopt USDC for its corporate treasury operations and continue integrating USDC across its products and services for its side of the deal. In return, Circle will help Binance to “build relationships across the global finance and commerce landscape,” and provide Binance with “technology, liquidity, and tools.”

“Through our strategic partnership, our users will have even more opportunities to use USDC on our platform, including more USDC trading pairs, special promotions on USDC across trading, and other products on Binance,” said Richard Teng, the CEO of Binance. The exchange estimated it services a user base of 240 million users globally.

“With Binance rapidly becoming the world’s leading financial super app, and stablecoin adoption and utility at the core of this future financial system, this is a tremendous opportunity for USDC as it becomes ubiquitous on the Binance platform,” said Jeremy Allaire, the chairman and CEO of Circle.

Circle expands into MENA region

The partnership was announced during Abu Dhabi Finance Week.

The news came one day after Circle announced it had expanded into the Middle East and North African (MENA) region by incorporating Abu Dhabi Global Markets, a financial center and free zone within the United Arab Emirates capital.

Circle also unveiled a partnership with LuLu Financial Holdings (LuLuFin), a holding company investing in financial services products managing $10 billion in annual transaction volume, at the event. The move enables LuLuFin to offer remittances and cross-border payments using USDC, initially targeting transactions between MENA, Asia, and Europe.

"This partnership with LuLuFin marks a significant step forward in the evolution of cross-border payments within one of the world’s most dynamic remittance corridors," Allaire said.

USDC currently boasts a market cap of $40.8 billion after growing 17.5% over the past six weeks, according to CoinGecko.

The UAE Dirham, the fiat currency of the United Arab Emirates, is notably pegged to the U.S. dollar.

Competition from Tether

However, Circle isn’t alone in expanding into the MENA region.

On Dec. 10, Tether, the largest stablecoin issuer, announced that the Financial Services Regulatory Authority, ADGM’s regulatory authority, had recognized its USDT stablecoin as an accepted virtual asset within ADGM.

The approval allows FSRA-licensed entities to offer pre-approved services relating to USDT. The acceptance specifically greenlights USDT issued on the Ethereum, Solana, and Avalanche blockchains.

“By bringing USDT to the forefront of ADGM’s regulated virtual asset framework, we are not only validating the importance of stablecoins as critical tools for modern finance but also opening new doors for collaboration and growth across the Middle East,” said Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether.

USDT’s market cap is at an all-time high of $138.8 billion, up 15% in five weeks. Tether estimated that 109 million on-chain wallets held USDT at the start of Q4 2024, more than double the number of addresses holding BTC and slightly less than the 128 million wallets holding ETH. Tether added that 86 million accounts on centralized exchanges had received USDT deposits.