Binance has acquired a $100 million equity stake in Circle Internet Group and signed a new five-year commercial agreement to expand USDC distribution, intensifying competition with Tether's USDT. The private placement, announced on September 22 and closed on September 17, involved 1,237,011 Class A common shares at $80.84 each, about a 5% discount to Circle's pre-closing market price. Binance holds voting rights but has agreed not to sell, transfer, pledge or hedge the shares for up to two years, subject to exceptions.
Under the commercial terms, Circle will pay Binance a monthly incentive fee based on USDC balances held through Circle's Modular Smart Contract Wallet infrastructure. The new arrangement replaces earlier Circle-Binance agreements from November 2024 and August 2025, deepening a relationship that began after Binance moved away from its own BUSD stablecoin. In December 2024, Circle paid Binance a $60.25 million upfront fee and Binance committed to hold $3 billion of USDC in its treasury.
USDC activity on Binance has grown sharply. Monthly USDC trading volume on the exchange has held above $80 billion, and daily spot volume in 2026 has ranged between $5 billion and $10 billion. The number of USDC trading pairs on Binance climbed from 39 in 2021 to 140 in late 2024 and now stands at 329. Despite this growth, USDC's market capitalization remains about $75.3 billion, while Tether's USDT is far ahead at roughly $183.8 billion, with total stablecoin supply near $304.8 billion.
Circle is also expanding through other channels. It broadened its partnership with OKX and announced a planned $400 million stock acquisition of Singapore-based payments firm Tazapay, expected to close in 2027, which processes more than $25 billion in annual payment volume with about 60% coming from stablecoins. Circle also launched its Arc blockchain mainnet on September 16, with validators including BlackRock, Visa, Mastercard and DTCC. Binance co-CEO Richard Teng expressed long-term confidence in Circle and USDC, while Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire called Binance one of the largest platforms for dollar stablecoin use.
Circle's financials highlight the cost of distribution. In Q2 2026, the company reported $701 million in total revenue and reserve income, of which $668 million came from reserve interest. Distribution, transaction and other costs reached $412 million, with Coinbase receiving $324.6 million. Coinbase alone holds more than 30% of USDC supply. The next milestones for Circle include Q4 2026 results in early 2027 and the January 18, 2027 effective date for key provisions of the GENIUS Act, under which payment stablecoins generally cannot be issued in the US without a federal or state license.
