Who is Circle's "backer"? The true international background of this stablecoin giant can be seen from the investor structure

Stablecoin issuer Circle is often regarded as the US representative in the field of cryptocurrency, but judging from the latest exposure of the investor structure, the company's capital background is far more complicated than imagined. According to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and public market data, Circle has diversified shareholders from the United States, China, Hong Kong, Australia and other places, indicating that it is not a company controlled by a single country. This also provides new discussion space for the recent outside saying that "Circle is a representative of the United States."

Circle's investor structure revealed: Chinese, American, and Hong Kong investors jointly hold shares

According to documents and market data from 2025, Circle currently has at least 18 major shareholders, including venture capital giants, asset management institutions, individual founders and senior executives. Among them, American capital still occupies a dominant position, such as Fidelity, General Catalyst, ARK Invest, Accel Partners, etc., all of which are large financial and technology investment companies from the United States.

But what is more striking is that capital from China and Hong Kong also has a place, including:

• IDG-Accel China Capital GP II Associates Ltd.: A joint venture between China's IDG Capital and the United States' Accel, it has long focused on technology investments in China and Asia.

• Chuang Xi Capital Ltd: Registered in Hong Kong, active in China and Asia's technology circles, and recently significantly increased its stake in Circle.

Although these companies do not account for the majority, the size of their shareholdings and their share purchase behavior show that Chinese capital has substantial influence in Circle's structure.

Deconstructing Chinese capital background: Which ones count? Which ones are just past collaborations?

Although some investors have a history of cooperation with Chinese capital, it does not mean that their holdings have a Chinese background. For example:

• Jim Breyer (Breyer Capital): He established a joint venture fund with IDG Capital to enter the Chinese market, but Breyer himself is a representative of American capital.

• Accel Partners LP: An American venture capital firm that has established a joint venture fund with China's IDG in the past, but its current stake in Circle should be considered a global fund operation.

After a clear definition, there are currently only two companies with clear Chinese capital background: IDG-Accel China and Chuang Xi Capital.

Chinese capital intervention in 2018: the role of the fire brigade

Looking back at the development history of Circle, 2018 was indeed a year when Chinese capital actively intervened. At that time, Circle completed a financing of up to US$110 million , the highlights of which included:

• Bitmain Technologies : The world’s largest mining machine manufacturer at the time and the lead investor in this round of financing.

• China Renaissance : Invested in Circle through its New Economy Fund.

• Chinese financial institutions such as IDG Capital, Baidu, China Everbright Holdings, and CICC have also participated in the past few rounds of investment.

These investments not only provide funds for Circle, but also help it expand into the Asian market and supplement the capital needs for acquiring exchanges such as Poloniex.

Circle today: Still backed by China? Not necessarily

Although Circle once received Chinese capital support at a critical moment, the shareholder structure has changed significantly. According to the latest documents, Chinese-backed institutions currently account for only a minority, and overall control is still dominated by US and global venture capital institutions. This includes:

• FMR LLC (Fidelity) : A giant with global assets of US$5.8 trillion.

• ARK Invest, General Catalyst, Oak Investment Partners : American funds that have been deeply engaged in the fields of technology and finance for a long time.

• Accel Partners : A multinational venture capital firm with long-term investment in the global technology market.

In addition, many of Circle's current senior executives are also American citizens, including founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire, CFO Jeremy Fox-Geen and Chief Product Officer Nikhil Chandhok (former Google and Meta executive), indicating that its operations and decision-making focus is still concentrated in the United States.

The international Circle is more like a representative of global financial technology

The current Circle is actually more like a fintech company with international capital and global governance. Its stablecoin USDC has been used in more than 190 countries around the world and has obtained regulatory approval and cooperation from multiple government agencies, including the U.S. Treasury, the European Central Bank and the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

Therefore, it may be an oversimplification to simply view Circle as a "representative of the United States"; from the perspective of capital and operations, it is closer to the role of a "global financial infrastructure provider", especially in the application areas of blockchain and stablecoins.

Circle Investor List Overview

Fiserv (NYSE: FI) announced that it will launch a new stablecoin FIUSD based on the Solana blockchain by the end of this year. This is a digital stablecoin that supports USD-equivalent exchange rates and is designed for banking, financial institutions and commercial applications. Fiserv will develop a long-term stablecoin partnership with PayPal. The stablecoins issued by the two companies can be interoperable, further simplifying cross-border payments, merchant settlements and instant payments.

Stablecoins are natively embedded in global financial infrastructure for the first time

FIUSD will be directly integrated into the Fiserv platform to process more than 90 billion transactions per year, covering the Clover POS system and digital platforms Experience Digital and Commercial Center. The FIUSD stablecoin will be deployed on the high-performance, low-latency Solana blockchain, combined with technical support from Paxos and Circle to ensure interoperability and compliance under multiple stablecoin standards.

Through the built-in SDK, banks and merchants can easily integrate FIUSD and track transactions on the Finxact core ledger platform. The overall system will also extend to Fiserv's existing fraud detection, risk management and settlement control functions to ensure the high security and regulatory compliance of stablecoin applications.

New cross-platform interoperability standard between FIUSD and PYUSD

Fiserv and PayPal deepen their partnership to expand the application scenarios of stablecoins. FIUSD and PYUSD issued by PayPal can achieve interoperability. After integration, they can support financial scenarios such as cross-border transfers, instant payments and merchant clearing, improve global payment efficiency, shorten fund settlement time, and simplify traditional processes.

FIUSD uses the stablecoin infrastructure of Paxos and Circle Internet Group, Inc. (NYSE: CRCL) to integrate financial trading platforms. Takis Georgakopoulos, Fiserv’s chief operating officer, said that Fiserv has a unique advantage in promoting stablecoin payments, which can improve the efficiency of banking services. Stablecoins and tokenized deposits have both the programmability of blockchain and the stability and credibility of legal currencies. They can settle around the clock, simplify banking processes and improve efficiency, so their application in traditional banking and payment fields will expand rapidly.

Walter Hessert, Paxos' head of strategy, said Paxos is pleased to work with Fiserv to provide real-time solutions to banks and agencies around the world by integrating its platform with the Fiserv network.

The SDK released by FIUSD is compatible with Fiserv’s existing clients (Experience Digital and Commercial Center). FIUSD will achieve compliance through existing built-in functions such as fraud monitoring, risk management and settlement controls.

Local media reported that KakaoPay, a mobile payment platform deeply integrated with South Korea's national communication software KakaoTalk, has applied to the Korean Intellectual Property Office for trademarks related to Korean won stablecoins, including "KRWKP", "KWRP" and "KPKRW". At the same time, the game company Nexus also stated that after the Basic Law on Digital Assets takes effect, the company plans to become the first issuer of Korean won stablecoins. After the news of the registration of stablecoins was exposed, Kakao's stock rose by more than 30%, and the South Korean stablecoin concept coin Kaia rose by more than 20%.

Kakao, which has a 97% market share, has registered a Korean won stablecoin trademark

The report pointed out that on the 17th, KakaoPay had applied to the Korean Intellectual Property Office for 18 trademarks including "KRWKP", "KWRP" and "KPKRW". These trademarks are composed of "KRW" representing the Korean won and "K" and "P" symbolizing Kakao Pay.

Although Kakao Pay responded that it has no specific plans yet and has only preemptively registered trademarks related to the stablecoin business, the industry generally believes that Kakao has officially launched a plan to issue a Korean won stablecoin.

KakaoTalk is a popular communication software in South Korea. The latest data shows that the communication software has a market share of 97% in South Korea. The relationship between KakaoTalk and KakaoPay is like that between LINE and LINE Pay. This close relationship has attracted the public's attention to KakaoTalk's efforts to promote the stablecoin business.

In addition to KakaoPay, KakaoTaxi also has a high market share in South Korea. In the entertainment industry, IU Lee Ji-eun, the national sister, is also affiliated with EDAM Entertainment, which is invested by Kakao. In addition, Kakao has also invested in STARSHIP, the parent company of KPOP girl group IVE, and the old entertainment company SM, which has launched phenomenal groups such as aespa, Super Junior, Girls' Generation, and TVXQ.

For reference, Kakao once launched the Klaytn public chain, and now cooperates with LINE to launch the Kaia public chain, which may be regarded as the concept coin of South Korea's stable currency. Pay attention to whether there will be further cooperation in the future. Since the news of the registration of stable currency was exposed, Kakao's stock has risen by more than 30%, and Kaia has risen by more than 20%.

(Exclusive interview with Kaia public chain: Let you re-understand the new EVM-compatible public chain launched by Kakao and Line )

Game company Nexus also promotes stable currency, and seven major banks are ready to go

KakaoTalk's move is seen as a response to the Digital Asset Basic Act announced by Min Byeong-deok, a member of the ruling party. One of the highlights of the bill is the introduction of a licensing system for stablecoin issuance. According to the proposal, all stablecoin issuers must obtain official licenses and hold at least 500 million won (about $368,000) in equity capital.

(South Korea promotes the "Basic Law on Digital Assets": Stablecoin issuance must be licensed, and a supervisory committee directly under the president is planned to be established )

At the same time, South Korean game company Nexus also officially announced plans to issue a Korean won stablecoin. Nexus CEO Zhang Xuanguo said in an interview with the Seoul Economic Daily: "Our goal is to become the first company in South Korea to issue a Korean won stablecoin." After the Digital Asset Basic Law takes effect, we plan to launch the Korean won stablecoin "KRWx".

In April this year, the non-profit Open Blockchain and DID Association established a "stablecoin department" with members including KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Woori, NH Nonghyup, and IBKIB. The department plans to issue a Korean won stablecoin with banks as the main body. Recently, pure online banks K Bank and iM Bank have also decided to participate.

Ark Invest's three funds sold Circle shares (CRCL) for the third time last Friday (6/20), cashing out $240 million in just two weeks. The three funds rose by 15% to 18% in one month, becoming the performance champion again.

Ark sells CRCL again, cashing in $146 million

Ark sold a total of 609,175 shares of Circle through its three funds on June 20, the details are as follows:

• ARKK: Sold 490,549 shares
• ARKW: Sold 75,018 shares
• ARKF: Sold 43,608 shares

If calculated based on the closing price of $240 on June 20, the cash out was $146 million. Together with the sales on June 16 and June 17, the total cash out was $240 million.

(Ark sold Circle shares for two consecutive days, cashing in nearly 100 million US dollars and making a profit of 387% in two weeks )

Ark vented his grievances and his performance increased by more than 18% in one month

The US stablecoin giant Circle was officially listed on June 5 with an issue price of $31 per share. After opening at $69.5, the stock price continued to rise and reached $240 at the close of June 20. The hot listing injected a dose of cryptocurrency booster into the US IPO market.

Ark bought a large amount of CRCL at the IPO. Based on the IPO price of $31, the cost was only $135 million.

The performance of its three funds has also been very impressive recently. Looking at the performance in one month:

• ARKK 18.33%
• ARKW 18.81%
• ARKF 15.83%

Compared with the US stock market (SPY) of 0.24% and Bitcoin (BTC) of -1.06%, it is quite impressive. Ark, which missed the AI ​​surge in the past two years, finally vented its grievances and became the performance king again.