Crypto22 September, 20262 min read
Binance Invests $100 Million in Circle Under Five-Year USDC Partnership Deal
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Binance buys 1.24 million Circle shares for $100M in private placement. Five-year expanded agreement to promote USDC on Binance platform.
17 outlets told this the same way.
Binance backs USDC push
Binance and Circle expanded their partnership with a five-year deal that ties Binance’s $100 million stake in Circle to promoting and integrating USDC across Binance’s platform.
Circle said Binance’s investment and five-year commitment would help it “leverage USDC to expand dollar access, support savings and investment with innovative digital asset products and reach people and businesses throughout global emerging markets,” while Binance said it was “helping to build a more inclusive, transparent and compliant digital economy.”
The agreement also required Circle to pay Binance “a monthly incentive fee” tied to USDC balances, and Circle issued Binance 1,237,011 shares of its Class A common stock at $80.84 per share in a private placement on Sept. 17.
Binance agreed not to sell, transfer, assign, pledge or hypothecate the Circle shares for up to two years, while Binance retained voting rights over the shares during the lockup period.
USDC route widens
Binance’s USDC-based spot markets rose to 329 from 140 after the first Binance-Circle collaboration began in December 2024, and Kaiko data showed monthly USDC trading volume climbed to more than $80 billion from a $20 billion to $40 billion range before the partnership. Kaiko’s head of research Anastasia Melachrinos said, “Throughout 2026, Binance has consistently held the largest share of USDC spot trading,” and she added that “daily volumes range from $5 million to $10 billion.”
Gravity Team co-founder and CEO Martins Benkitis said the partnership has “clear incentives to grow USDC through Binance's user base and infrastructure,” and he projected it would “put greater pressure on USDT, particularly in global trading and emerging markets.” Benkitis cautioned that “Expanding distribution alone won't change the situation overnight,” pointing to USDT’s “deep trading liquidity and local liquidity” and the fact that “people are already accustomed to using USDT.”
Tether pressure, long odds
Analysts framed the Binance-Circle tie-up as a way to intensify competition with Tether’s USDT, while they also said USDT’s liquidity advantage makes it hard to dislodge quickly. Clear Street analyst Owen Lau said the deal “optimizes the relationship and further aligns Binance's interests with Circle,” and he described it as “echoing the Circle-Coinbase distributor-shareholder model.”
Circle’s strategy also extended beyond USDC issuance, with Circle’s Circle Payments Network designed to connect stablecoin settlements between financial institutions and a $400 million acquisition of Singapore-based Tazapay expected to add “local banking relationships and payment rails across emerging markets.” BigGo Finance said USDC’s market capitalization stood at approximately $74 billion, about half of USDT’s roughly $140 billion, and it noted that the gap underscored that USDT’s network effects and user habits were unlikely to crumble in the near term.