Circle
Circle is a Bitcoin company in the Stablecoins & Payments category, founded in 2013 by Jeremy Allaire, Sean Neville.
The Idea
A consumer Bitcoin payments company, 'Venmo for Bitcoin.' Allaire believed Bitcoin's real utility was as a global payments rail, not a speculative asset. Flagship product Circle Pay launched in March 2014 as a free Bitcoin wallet.
Early Traction
Goldman Sachs leading Circle's $50M Series C in 2015 was front-page news, Wall Street's first serious endorsement of Bitcoin. Across Series A to D, Circle raised ~$136M as a Bitcoin payments company.
Peak Stats
IPO'd on the NYSE in 2025 at a ~$6.7B valuation. USDC (its stablecoin) has a market cap regularly exceeding $30B+.
Status Today
Active. Pivoted away from consumer Bitcoin payments in 2016 to focus on USDC stablecoin infrastructure, which became one of the most important products in all of digital assets.
Why It Matters
Circle's story shows how hard it is to commercialize Bitcoin as a payments network, even as USDC, its stablecoin, became one of the most important products in digital assets.