Circle Acquires IBM's Near-1,000-Patent Blockchain Portfolio, Becoming Top US Holder
Circle Acquires IBM’s Near-1,000-Patent Blockchain Portfolio, Becoming Top US Holder #
Circle Internet Group has acquired IBM’s blockchain patent portfolio, making the USDC issuer the largest holder of blockchain intellectual property in the United States, the company announced Monday.
The portfolio includes more than 680 patent families and close to 1,000 issued patents worldwide, covering distributed-ledger technology, banking, financial services, insurance, enterprise infrastructure, supply-chain verification, and secure cloud operations. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Circle said it will use the patents to strengthen the infrastructure behind its core products, including USDC, the world’s second-largest stablecoin by market capitalization, the Circle Payments Network, its Arc enterprise blockchain platform, and a suite of agentic financial tools.
Sarah Wilson, Circle’s General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, described the deal as central to the company’s direction. “Intellectual property is critical to advancing our mission and expanding adoption of on-chain infrastructure,” she said in the announcement. “IBM has been a pioneer in technological innovation, and this acquisition expands Circle’s ability to advance the infrastructure that powers global, internet-native finance.”
CEO Jeremy Allaire called the deal “a significant milestone for Circle and our vision for the future of the internet financial system.” Circle said it also plans to explore additional commercial opportunities with IBM beyond the patent transfer.
The acquisition gives Circle a broad patent position spanning settlement mechanics, compliance tooling, and interoperability, as competition in the stablecoin market from Tether and PayPal USD continues to grow. Circle’s shares rose about 2.3% in premarket trading after the announcement.
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