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Circle expands USDC pact with Binance through September 2031
Binance bought 1.237 million Circle Class A shares at $80.84 each and agreed to a two-year restriction on selling or hedging the stake.
Circle and Binance announced a new five-year commercial agreement to expand USDC access, running through September 2031 and replacing arrangements from November 2024 and August 2025. The companies also said Binance will invest $100 million in Circle through an equity purchase, as the relationship has grown into one of USDC’s key distribution channels. Under the share deal described by CryptoSlate, Binance bought 1.237 million Circle Class A shares at $80.84 each, a 5.0% discount to Circle’s Sept. 17 closing price. Binance agreed to a two-year restriction on selling, pledging, or hedging the shares, with either company able to terminate the commercial agreement earlier under specified circumstances. CryptoSlate also pointed to rapid USDC growth on Binance since the partnership began. Customer USDC balances were about $1.5 billion on Oct. 1, 2024, shortly before Circle’s original Binance agreement, and rose to about $7.1 billion in Binance’s latest Sept. 1 Proof-of-Reserves snapshot, up roughly 376%. The outlet noted that USDC’s expansion on Binance has outpaced Tether on the platform. Binance customer reserves showed $21.4 billion of USDT on Oct. 1, 2024 versus $1.5 billion of USDC, leaving about $14.30 of USDT for every $1 of USDC, while by Sept. 1 customer USDT balances were $32.3 billion and USDC was about $7.1 billion, narrowing the ratio to about 4.5 to 1.