Crypto firm Circle to move headquarters to New York City ahead of planned IPO

By Hannah Lang

(Reuters) - Circle Internet Financial, the company behind stablecoin USDC, is moving its global corporate headquarters from Boston to New York City, after filing confidentially earlier this year for a U.S. initial public offering.

Circle plans to open its new headquarters in One World Trade Center in early 2025, the company said Friday.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

Circle's move to New York City is another sign that the cryptocurrency industry is looking to become more enmeshed with traditional finance. Companies like Goldman Sachs and BlackRock are also headquartered in the Big Apple.

Cryptocurrencies like bitcoin have become more popular as token prices have soared to new highs and as exchange-traded funds tracking their prices have hit the U.S. market this year.

CONTEXT

That growth has also translated to stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency pegged to real-world assets, often the U.S. dollar. Circle's USDC is the world's second-largest stablecoin and is backed by cash and cash equivalents, including short-term Treasury bonds.

There are around $35 billion worth of USDC tokens in circulation, down from a peak above $56 billion in mid-2022, according to crypto market tracker CoinGecko.

KEY QUOTE

"Our new headquarters near the top of One World Trade Center is a symbol of the trust, security and stability we're building as a critical infrastructure provider for the future of finance," said Circle co-founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire in a statement.

WHAT'S NEXT

Circle has sought to become a publicly traded company for a number of years, abandoning a deal to go public via a blank-check firm in 2022. That deal valued the company at $9 billion.

Circle filed for an IPO in January, which is expected to take place after the Securities and Exchange Commission completes its review process, subject to market and other conditions, the company said at the time.

(Reporting by Hannah Lang in New York; editing by Jonathan Oatis)