It's been a tumultuous year for Circle, but it's in adversity that true leaders are revealed, and Jeremy Allaire (read his interview) is a perfect illustration. At the heart of the US banking crisis last spring, his stablecoin, the USDC, briefly lost its peg to the dollar. With the support of the US Federal Reserve, Circle quickly allayed market concerns, guaranteeing the conversion of every USDC into fiat currency.
Bolstered by this credibility, Circle filed for an IPO at the end of 2023, aiming to follow in Coinbase's footsteps in 2021. This would be the second time a crypto company of this scale has tried its luck on the Nasdaq index, with Circle valued at around $9 billion in 2022.
Circle's business model is particularly robust: for every dollar received in exchange for issuing a USDC, a significant portion is invested in short-term US Treasury bonds. Although financial details remain confidential, various sources indicate that the company generated significant revenues in 2022-2023, benefiting from the rise in interest rates in the conventional economy.
However, vigilance is called for as the quantity of USDCs in circulation fell considerably, from $56 billion to $28 billion between mid-2022 and 2023, partly, again, due to the rise in interest rates. Faced with more attractive yields in bonds, many investors have abandoned the USDC for traditional finance, although it remains among the most stable and regulated stablecoins on the market.
As part of its expansion strategy, Circle obtained its PSAN registration with the Autorité des marchés financiers at the end of 2023, making Paris its European headquarters for the rollout of EURC, its euro stablecoin. The latter still has to overcome regulatory challenges before it is fully allowed to circulate, in anticipation of the European MiCA regulation on stablecoins, which comes into force on June 30.
Among the other nominees in the category: Brian Armstrong (Coinbase), Nicolas Julia (Sorare), Ambre Soubiran (Kaiko), Cathie Wood (Ark Invest).
The election took place in part with the participation of The Big Whale community but without intervention from the team. Find out how to vote.
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