Circle and Aleo have partnered to launch USDCx, a stablecoin with "bank-grade privacy".

Odaily Planet Daily reports that Circle co-founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire announced a partnership with blockchain platform Aleo to launch a "privacy" version of its stablecoin, named USDCx. Aleo co-founder Howard Wu stated that USDCx will hide transaction history to address the issue of large institutional clients (such as banks) not wanting their balances and payment history to be publicly disclosed.

The new token, USDCx, is not entirely private; each transaction will include a "compliance record" that Circle can access when law enforcement or other agencies inquire about a specific transaction. However, for public users viewing the blockchain logs, these transactions will appear as incomprehensible "blocks of data." Wu describes it as "bank-grade privacy, not pure privacy."

The launch of USDCx is part of the crypto industry's push for large banks and institutions to adopt blockchain technology. Asset management giant BlackRock has launched its tokenized money market fund BUIDL, online brokerage Robinhood has piloted blockchain-based stock trading, and fintech giants like Stripe have invested heavily in stablecoins.