Circle is a peer-to-peer payments technology company.Founded by Jeremy Allaire and Sean Neville in October 2013, Circle’s mobile payment platform, Circle Pay, allows users to hold, send, and receive traditional fiat currencies - similar to payment app Venmo and Square cash.[1][2]In September 2015, Circle received the first BitLicense issued from the New York State Department of Financial Services.[3][4][5]In April 2016, the British government approved the first virtual currency licensure to Circle.[6]Circle is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.[7]Up until December 2016, Circle Pay also operated as a bitcoin wallet service to buy and sell bitcoins.[8][9][10]It has since ceased to provide such service, claiming the company "is now more than ever not a consumer bitcoin exchange, and will continue to focus resources on global social payments and future next-generation blockchain technology".[11]Contents 1 2 3 4 5 The company has received over US$135 million in venture capital from 4 rounds of investments from 2013 to 2016, including US$50 million led by Goldman Sachs.[12][13][14]

In April 2015 The New York Times reporter Nathaniel Popper wrote that the Goldman Sachs investment "should help solidify Bitcoin’s reputation as a technology that serious financial firms can work with."[15]In June 2016, Circle raised US$60 million in Series D funding backed new and existing partners.[16][17]As of 2015 a circle account can be funded in USD via "US-issued Visa and MasterCard credit and debit cards", US bank accounts.[18]As of 2016, European customers can also use Circle in EUR and GBP[19].The Circle conversion rate is not pegged to a specific exchange and may fluctuate around other bitcoin exchange rates but according to the Circle President "it’s simply never a revenue generator".[20]Britain's Financial Conduct Authority granted Circle an electronic money license in April 2016, expanding the use of Circle's services to the United Kingdom and broadening Circle's relationship with UK bank Barclays.[21][22]In June 2016, Circle announced it will begin expanding its services to China, where CEO Jeremy Allaire believes "there’s an opportunity for Chinese consumers that want to share value globally with friends in other parts of the world."[23]

In December 2016 the Circle app stopped supporting the exchange of bitcoin but still allows money transfers.[24] ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^Circle, the Bitcoin startup that veteran entrepreneur Jeremy Allaire started, just raised $50 million from Goldman Sachs and IDG Capital Partners.It’s another sign that the finance industry’s most powerful players are starting to take the crypto-currency and its ecosystem seriously.All of Circle’s existing investors including Breyer Capital, General Catalyst Partners, Accel Partners, Oak Investment Partners, Fenway Summer, Digital Currency Group and Pantera Capital participated.Rival Coinbase recently did a large growth round too that involved the New York Stock Exchange and USAA.With the round, Circle is letting customers send and receive U.S.dollars as well as Bitcoin.The key point about this feature is that it takes advantage of Bitcoin’s promise in settling transactions and reaching consensus much more cheaply than traditional online financial transactions.

In its purest form, Bitcoin’s public ledger, the blockchain, allows multiple parties to transact with each other without a third-party mediator.But of course, lots of third-party and more centralized institutions have emerged over time to serve as wallets, exchanges and merchant processors.They merely take advantage of the currency’s less expensive settlement costs.Circle is betting that dollar-based transactions will also be attractive to customers who don’t want to deal with Bitcoin’s price swings against fiat currencies.bitcoin cheap vps“They can do this without knowing anything about Bitcoin and without exposing themselves to price volatility,” said Allaire, who previously took video company Brightcove public.bitcoin wiki coinbase“We really think of Bitcoin as a global interoperable payment network instead of a store of value.” The other interesting part of the round is that Circle took funding from IDG Capital Partners, which is a well-established East Asian firm.bitcoin gateway india

They could be a key partner in breaking into the Chinese market, which has an entirely different set of regulations around Bitcoin.Two years ago, after Chinese Bitcoin enthusiasts started piling into the market and driving up the price of the currency, the government intervened and ruled that banks couldn’t directly handle transactions.Transactions between private individuals are allowed, however.“This could take a long time, but there is a savings glut in China where consumers have built up a lot of wealth.ethereum 200 dollarsAnd now, the economy needs to shift toward a more consumer-driven model.bitcointalk altcoin speculationPart of that involves Chinese consumers interacting with the rest of the world over the Internet,” Allaire said.bitcoin preis eur

“So I think there’s a need for services that will make it easier for Chinese consumers to spend globally.The Bitcoin network could be an attractive solution.”Goldman Sachs Group Inc.is one of two lead investors in a $50 million funding round for bitcoin startup Circle Internet Financial Ltd.Goldman adds its name to a growing list of Wall Street institutions exploring digital-currency technology’s potential to provide faster and cheaper financial transactions and payments.Circle, based in... Most Popular Videos Film Clip: 'The Big Sick' Lower Your Wireless Bill With These Tips 'Bridge Crew': Voice Command Comes to 'Star Trek' VR Videogame A New Road to Income: Barron's Buzz Opinion Journal: Macron vs.ethereum board gameBig Decisions Business Spectator Checkout51 Harper Collins New York Post PropTiger REA Storyful The Australian The Sun The Times Barron's BigCharts DJX Dow Jones Newswires Factiva Financial News Mansion Global MarketWatch Newsmart NewsPlus Private Markets Risk & Compliance WSJ Pro WSJ Conference WSJ Video Big Decisions Business Spectator Checkout51 Harper Collins New York Post PropTiger REA Storyful The Australian The Sun The Times Barron's BigCharts DJX Dow Jones Newswires Factiva Financial News Mansion Global MarketWatch Newsmart NewsPlus Private Markets Risk & Compliance WSJ Pro WSJ Conference WSJ Video Big Decisions Business Spectator Checkout51 Harper Collins New York Post PropTiger REA Storyful The Australian The Sun The Times Barron's BigCharts DJX Dow Jones Newswires Factiva Financial News Mansion Global MarketWatch Newsmart NewsPlus Private Markets Risk & Compliance WSJ Pro WSJ Conference WSJ Video Big Decisions Business Spectator Checkout51 Harper Collins New York Post PropTiger REA Storyful The Australian The Sun The Times A Boston-based bitcoin startup became the first firm to receive a license, allowing it to offer digital-currency services in New York.bitcoin exchange wsj