Circle has secured a $100 million investment from Binance along with a new five-year deal to expand the use of USDC. The move gives Circle another major partner as it continues to compete with Tether’s USDT.
Binance invested $100 million in Circle and bought about 1.24 million Class A shares at $80.84 each. The deal was completed through a private placement on Sept. 17.
The two companies have also renewed their USDC partnership for another five years, with a focus on growing USDC use, especially in emerging markets.
The partnership started in late 2024 and has already helped increase USDC activity on Binance. Kaiko data shows that the number of USDC spot markets on Binance grew from 140 when the partnership began to 329. Monthly USDC trading volume also increased from around $20 billion-$40 billion to more than $80 billion in recent months.
Under the new agreement, Circle will pay Binance monthly incentives based on qualifying USDC balances held through Circle’s wallet infrastructure. Binance will also promote USDC across its platform.
Binance will keep the voting rights attached to its Circle shares, but it agreed to restrictions on selling, transferring, pledging or hedging the shares for up to two years, with some exceptions.
The new deal replaces agreements between the companies from November 2024 and August 2025. It also gives Binance a direct financial interest in the growth of USDC.
Binance has become one of the biggest trading venues for USDC. Kaiko data shows the exchange handled around $5 billion-$10 billion in USDC spot trading each day during 2026. That was much higher than activity on many other exchanges.
USDC trading markets on Binance have grown sharply over the years. The exchange had only 39 USDC spot markets in 2021. That number reached 140 by late 2024 and has now grown to 329.
Not every market stays listed, however. Binance regularly removes trading pairs when liquidity or trading activity becomes too low.
Circle is also expanding its USDC business through other exchanges. Its partnership with OKX now covers USDC trading across spot, margin and futures markets.
Even with this growth, USDC is still much smaller than Tether’s USDT.
USDC’s market value reached around $75.3 billion on Sept. 23, up from $73.6 billion on Sept. 17. USDT was much larger at about $183.8 billion on Sept. 26, with daily trading volume close to $69 billion.
USDT also has a long history of use across global crypto markets. It has large amounts of liquidity and is widely used as a trading pair. Because of this, analysts say growing USDC adoption will not quickly change the balance between the two stablecoins.
Circle is also building its own payment and blockchain infrastructure.
On Sept. 16, the company launched Arc, a blockchain that uses USDC to pay transaction fees. The network started with institutional participants including BlackRock, Visa, Mastercard, DTCC and Standard Chartered.
Circle is also working to expand its cross-border payment business. On Sept. 8, the company announced plans to acquire Tazapay, a Singapore-based payments company. Circle said the deal would add relationships with more than 60 banks and fintech companies and provide payment coverage across more than 100 markets.
The transaction is valued at about $400 million in Circle stock and is expected to close in 2027, subject to regulatory approval and other conditions. Tazapay processes more than $25 billion in annualized payment volume, with stablecoins making up around 60% of that activity.
Circle Payments Network is another part of the company’s strategy. It connects financial institutions and payment providers and uses regulated stablecoins for cross-border payments.
For Circle, the Binance deal adds another major distribution channel. Binance gives USDC access to a large international trading user base, while Circle continues building payment networks and blockchain infrastructure outside traditional exchanges.
Overall, the new $100 million investment brings Circle and Binance closer together and gives USDC more room to grow, while Tether remains far ahead in total stablecoin market value.
