Funding target shrunk by nearly half, U.S. encryption company Circle announces layoffs
Following the announcement of layoffs, the digital currency payment company Circle has once again lowered its financing target.
It is reported that Circle was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in Dublin. It is a start-up company focusing on mobile payment and cryptocurrency. It was once the title of "American version of Alipay". Circle’s business lines mainly include: Circle Pay, which provides legal currency transfer services, Circle Trade, which conducts digital currency transfer transactions, and Circle Invest, which helps retail investors invest in the digital currency market; not only that, but also owns the trading platform Poloniex through acquisitions and cooperation , the equity crowdfunding site SeedInvest and the USDC stablecoin in cooperation with Coinbase; so far it has raised a total of $246 million in public funds from Pantera Capital, Digital Currency Group and Bitmain.
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according to the blockCiting sources familiar with the matter, the company is seeking $150 million in financing, well below the $250 million goal The Information reported in March, a 40% reduction. The sources included a former employee of the firm and a person who reviewed its investment pitch desk.
Just in the middle of this month, Poloniex, an exchange owned by Circle, was affected by regulation and stopped providing trading of nine digital assets to US customers: ARDR, BCN, DCR, GAME, GAS, LSK, NXT, OMNI and REP. In this regard, CEO Allaire once issued an article "The Encryption Policy of the United States Needs to Change", expressing his opposition to the US government's practice of treating most digital currencies as securities, and supervision has failed to keep up with the pace of the encryption industry.
In addition, the block believes that OTC crypto trading, as the core business of Circle and once a star business in the digital currency market, also faces the risk of Waterloo, even though Circle’s official announcement on January 3, 2019 stated that OTC crypto trading Trading arm Circle Trade processed $24 billion in over-the-counter trades last year in 2018 and executed about 10,000 trades with 6,000 different parties.
However, as profit margins continue to shrink and new players such as many platforms enter the encrypted trading market, Circle's OTC business may also face strong enemies. For example, Coinbase quietly launched OTC trading services in November this year. According to statistics from the data company Diar, Coinbase’s OTC trading volume in December has exceeded US$5 billion, surpassing the Bitcoin Investment Trust (Bitcoin Investment Trust) launched by the established company Grayscale. Investment Trust, GBTC).
However, Circle declined to comment on funding targets, noting that its Circle Trade business is profitable, while Poloniex will add more new assets, margin trading for non-U.S. users, and more clients in the second quarter.
