Latest news with #HeathTarbert
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Circle President Tarbert: Banks are 'ideal' partners
For cryptocurrency fintech and stablecoin issuer Circle, going public has long been part of the plan. "A few years ago, in 2017-2018, when we created USDC, we asked ourselves if we're going to create a new base layer of money for the internet that moves at the speed of the internet, how could we do it in such a way that it would be built to last," Circle's President Heath Tarbert told American Banker in an interview Thursday afternoon following the fintech's IPO debut. "Going public and subjecting ourselves to the highest standards of transparency as an American public company — as well as corporate governance — is sort of part and parcel of who we are, and is the necessary next step, in our view," Tarbert said. Circle debuted its IPO on Thursday to critical investor acclaim after twice upsizing the offering. The company is best known for its USDC stablecoin, a fully backed, 1:1 digital currency pegged to the U.S. dollar that can be used for faster cross-border payments. The company also has a payment network, called Circle Payments Network, that connects banks, payments companies and digital wallets. There was about $60 billion of USDC in circulation as of March 31, according to the company. Circle's IPO ends the fintech's four-year go-public saga. Circle first started exploring an IPO through a reverse merger with special purpose acquisition vehicle Concord Acquisition Corp in July 2021, and later terminated that agreement in December 2022. What follows is a transcript of the interview, edited for length and clarity. Why did Circle decide to go public now? HEATH TARBERT: We actually decided to go public a long time ago. It was always part of the plan. Circle has always used our transparency, regulation and compliance and a risk management ethos as part of our comparative advantage. Particularly because our strategy in building the world's largest and most widely used stablecoin network is to partner with the bluest of the blue chip firms around the world, whether they're banks, exchanges or corporates. Being listed reinforces that credibility. What opportunities does Circle's IPO open up for the company and the wider stablecoin industry? It's important to realize that Circle is an internet platform. We are built on the open internet, and we are an internet company that is also a financial services company. In that regard, we're rare. And the more people that understand who we are and the unique power of stablecoins, is something that is really important to us. The IPO in many ways makes that very clear. The other thing that is really important about Circle, when you think about us compared to the traditional financial institutions, is we are a neutral platform. You can partner with Circle, you can become part of our stablecoin network and you can gain a great deal. We have that traditional financial services regulatory compliance bent but we also have that Web3 ethos. How do you see Circle further working with banks? One of the great things when I think about banks in particular is that banks are ideal partners to Circle. We have banks around the world that are our partners and provide the on and off ramps, for example, so their clients can get access to USDC. I see that only developing because ultimately, we're not going after our customers' customers. We're not competing with them. We ultimately work with the large institutions so their customers can in turn make use of stablecoins. So going public also signals to banks and the tech firms that their money is now open and they can do business with Circle in an important way with the blessing of the regulators. The Circle Payment Network, which was just created to facilitate cross-border flows, actually has four globally systemically important banks who were advisors to creating the architecture of that. On the technology side, we've seen a decoupling of stablecoins from the cryptocurrency market over the last year. The trading goes up and down, but stablecoins continue to grow and grow. People are starting to realize, "Wait a minute here. Stablecoins aren't a crypto thing, this is a payment system innovation." Then you have the regulatory backdrop, where you have the current financial regulators saying stablecoins are perfectly fine and in fact, are arguably encouraging banks to get into these markets because it's important that there's a technology upgrade. Some large global banks have floated the idea of launching their own stablecoin. How is Circle thinking about the role of its network as stablecoins become more ubiquitous? First of all, we welcome the competition, because the competition will actually prove to the world the criticality and importance and the technical superiority of stabelcoins. The global market for legal electronic cash is $60 trillion. Citibank estimates that the global stablecoin market will grow to $3 trillion in just a few years' time. The more reputable firms that come into this market alongside us, the more it will actually grow the market. Banks are not used to open internet architecture. They're used to much more closed systems. They also have to think about, "If we get into the stablecoin business, we may crowd out our own deposits – deposits that we can lend out at much higher rates." Circle upsized its offering twice, and shares nearly tripled in the first hour of trading Thursday. What are your plans for deploying that capital? We have a lot of capital on our balance sheet and we want to build the world's largest and most widely used stablecoin network. Given that we're on what I think is an inflection point of a massive use case, we want to make sure we have that capital reserve so we can take advantage of that as regulations come into play all over the world. At the same time, we're developing products up the technology stack, which would be our applications like Circle Payments Network. We're also enhancing our infrastructure, like the cross-chain transfer protocol, which allows you to take a stablecoin on Solana and move it nearly instantaneously to ethereum. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Circle IPO: President talks stablecoin network, bipartisan GENIUS Act
Circle Internet Group (CRCL) debuted on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday, the stablecoin issuer's stock proceeding to skyrocket by over 150% ahead of the market close. Circle President Heath Tarbert joins the Market Domination team in speaking on the company's decision to go public, its growth outlook, and the bipartisan GENIUS Act stablecoin legislation working its way through the Senate. Hear Yahoo Finance explain what Circle does and who's looking to buy up shares at its IPO. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Market Domination here. Well, stable coins in focus today. Circle, issuer of the stable coin USDC started trading today at $69 per share. It's after pricing its initial public offering at $31. For more, we're bringing in Heath Tarbert, president of Circle. Heath, welcome to the show. Congrats on the big day, Heath. You know, the company, as I understand it, it's been around some time. I think he founded it around, correct me if I'm wrong here, around 12 years ago. So why go public now, Heath? And what went into that decision? Well, that's exactly right. Circle's been around for a long time, and it's been our long-term goal and aim, and part of our strategy, to go public. As was said earlier, trust, transparency, and reliability is really key in this industry. And we're the world's largest regulated stable coin issuer. And so it was only natural that to raise the level of trust, transparency, and governance, we would go public, be listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and be held to those high standards. So that is why we are a public company, but in many ways, this is just the beginning. So talk to us about what's next then, I guess. We're seeing huge demand, we should say, for your shares in today's session. I know it was oversubscribed, the shares are going up quite a lot today. So there's a lot of excitement around this. But what is next? And talk to me about the profit profile of the company. How you guys make money on the stable coin business. Yeah, so we are, we are engaged in building the world's largest and most widely used stable coin network. And wherever there is regulation, we are seeking to have the highest level, to get the right licenses, because we really think that's going to be the differentiator. And so the more our stable coins are used throughout the world, the better it is for our network, and the network effects take place. And so we obviously have the network, uh, the amount of stable coins that we have in circulation, we have those reserves, invested in very high-quality liquid assets, but we also have a number of tech products and protocols that make us a far better network than some of our competitors out there. Uh, and so those come with fees and, and we're continuing to build out those revenue streams as well. But again, when we look at what we're offering compared to the traditional payment systems, it's not even comparison in terms of the amount and the cost to transfer things over the internet through blockchain protocols. Heath, I'm very curious to get your take on the Genius Act, which is making its way through the halls of power in DC, Heath. I'm just curious what you all at Circle make of that legislation. Are you positive on it? Uh, you got questions, are you skeptical? I'm curious to hear your take. Yeah, we're very positive on the legislation. We think it's probably the best piece of stable, sound stable coin regulation in the United States that we've seen, because in many ways it enshrines the Circle way of doing business. We were, we had one-to-one backing with high-quality liquid assets, transparency, as well as monthly attestations, uh, ever before it was required of us. So we set about building, again, the world's best stable coin in our view, and we asked ourselves what characteristics would that have. And the characteristics that the Genius Act would enshrine in law is essentially those characteristics that we imposed upon ourselves before anyone told us we had to. So we're very supportive of the legislation. We think it's, it's outstanding, and the fact that it has broad bipartisan support shows the importance that despite the partisanship that's going on in Washington and elsewhere, this is so important for the country that we move forward. Sign in to access your portfolio
South China Morning Post
3 days ago
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Stablecoin firm Circle's shares double in wild trading debut
Circle Internet Group had one of the splashiest debuts in years, with shares surging 168 per cent after the company and some of its shareholders raised nearly US$1.1 billion in an upsized initial public offering (IPO). Advertisement Shares of the stablecoin issuer more than tripled from the IPO price of US$31 each, climbing as high as US$103.75 apiece on Thursday while being halted several times for volatility. The stock closed at US$83.23 in New York. It was the largest first-day pop for a US IPO raising more than US$100 million since Sono Group in 2021, data compiled by Bloomberg showed. Shares of the solar-powered electric vehicle maker closed 155 per cent higher on their trading debut. Circle's deal, which was upsized twice amid strong demand and priced above the marketed range, signals stablecoin issuers are becoming more widely accepted. Jeremy Allaire, CEO and co-founder of Circle Internet Group, reacts as Circle president Heath Tarbert rings a ceremonial bell to commence trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday. Photo: Reuters 'The world has already woken up to the fact that stablecoin money is here to stay,' Jeremy Allaire, Circle co-founder and CEO said in an interview following the trading debut. Advertisement The offering of 34 million shares by Circle and backers including Allaire was increased from 32 million shares and had been marketed at US$27 to US$28 each.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Circle IPO: President talks stablecoin network, bipartisan GENIUS Act
Circle Internet Group (CRCL) debuted on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday, the stablecoin issuer's stock proceeding to skyrocket by over 150% ahead of the market close. Circle President Heath Tarbert joins the Market Domination team in speaking on the company's decision to go public, its growth outlook, and the bipartisan GENIUS Act stablecoin legislation working its way through the Senate. Hear Yahoo Finance explain what Circle does and who's looking to buy up shares at its IPO. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Market Domination here. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
The National
3 days ago
- Business
- The National
UAE helped US regulators frame digital asset policy, Circle president says
Stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Group says the UAE has played a vital role in helping US regulators frame digital asset policies, reflecting the growing influence of the Emirates in the global technology stage. The company, which manages the world's second-biggest stablecoin, USDC, raised more than $1 billion at its initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday, reflecting the legitimacy of digital assets and the growing attention they attract from regulators, its president Heath Tarbert told The National. The listing valued the New York City-based Circle at around $6.8 billion after it priced its IPO at $31 per share, well above the projected top range of $27 and $28, making it one of the most prominent crypto firms that has tapped into equity markets. With the emergence of digital asset providers in the markets, regulation becomes more magnified especially in the US, which has banked on fellow forward-looking and tech-oriented nations such as the UAE for policies that would be a standard globally, said Mr Tarbert, who also served as assistant secretary of the US Treasury and chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. "While people do look to the US, it has been looking elsewhere as well for ideas, given the importance of digital assets and trying to get it right, and they've looked no further than the UAE," he said in an interview. "I would commend … particularly the financial services authorities in Dubai and Abu Dhabi for being at the forefront of this because they've actually helped inform US policymakers … there's a real realisation that stablecoins in particular can do a lot for our financial system." Cryptocurrencies in general are notoriously driven by trends and political developments. US President Donald Trump, arguably the world's biggest backer of crypto, gave an unprecedented boost to the sector – most notably Bitcoin – which scaled multiple highs early in his second term. "Politics can play a role in anything, but it's ultimately fundamental technology that will prevail," Mr Tarbert said, noting that Mr Trump "seeing the importance" of crypto "can also help the US continue to be a leader in technology". A stablecoin is a type of cryptocurrency that is pegged to a fiat currency and tends to be less volatile, unlike Bitcoin and the like, for which swings are influenced by simple factors such as tweets and hype. Unlike legacy financial institutions that require paperwork, approvals and physical branches, stablecoins only require an internet connection and a digital wallet. This removes barriers and allows anyone, anywhere, to send, receive and store money without needing a bank. AE Coin, the first regulated digital currency in the UAE, was granted final approval by local authorities and is scheduled to be launched 'soon'. In April, Abu Dhabi entities IHC, ADQ and First Abu Dhabi Bank plan to launch a dirham-backed stablecoin, which will be fully regulated by the UAE Central Bank, aimed at easing payment solutions. Tether, whose USDT is the world's biggest stablecoin, in August received the go-ahead to develop a stablecoin in the UAE. And Circle, which last year incorporated a unit in Abu Dhabi, partnered with Binance in December to incorporate USDC into products that can be used locally. Mr Tarbert said stablecoins will allow users to move in and out of digital assets, in addition to being a store of value globally, helping secure their finances. In particular, the UAE, a major source of remittance outflows, can benefit from their secure nature, he added. "People want to hold things like dollars in particular, but also euros and other currencies in their wallets safely and securely," he said. "The UAE is a major remittance corridor in the world … [stablecoins will provide] that fulcrum between east and west, north and south."
