The Boston-based bitcoin startup, Circle Financial, announced last year they would stop buying and selling bitcoin from users, but the company claims to still be the “second largest crypto asset trader in the world,” according to CEO Jeremy Allaire.
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Circle Financial Claims to be the ‘Second Largest Crypto Trader Worldwide’
Last December, the company Circle Financial announced that it would stop servicing direct consumer bitcoin trades. The company surprised many bitcoiners as it pivoted its business model to handle cross border cryptocurrency payments and Over the Counter (OTC) trading. According to Circle’s founder, Jeremy Allaire, even though the startup stopped managing direct bitcoin services for consumers, the company still maintains a lion’s share of cryptocurrency trading. When recently asked what Circle has been up to lately Allaire responded by saying;
We use bitcoin and ether, and we are the second largest crypto asset trader in the world. We directly trade over $1B in crypto per month.
Circle Provides ‘Significant Scale in OTC Trading With Large Natural Buyers’
Circle announced its decision to create, “Spark,” a cross border payment system aimed at citizens in the Philippines and Korea. Alongside this, the company would deal with OTC exchanges between large financial institutions and would eliminate the Circle app’s direct bitcoin purchases and sales. In response to Allaire’s comment about being the second largest crypto trader globally one individual asks, “Where? Your app has forbidden bitcoin for almost a year now.”
“We don’t enable direct consumer trading, we market make on all major exchanges, and provide OTC liquidity services to institutions,” explains the Circle founder.
This July the company announced “free cross border payments” and explained that the company was growing exponentially in Europe. According to the company, over the past few years Circle created a treasury to ensure customers can transfer money instantly. With it’s OTC services, the startup also “actively trades and provides significant market liquidity for bitcoin, ether, xrp and increasingly nascent tokens and ICOs.”
We actively make markets on nearly all major exchanges globally, and provide significant scale in over the counter (OTC) trading with large natural buyers and sellers of crypto assets.
It seems Circle is still very much involved with bitcoin these days and has even opened up to multiple cryptocurrencies as well. Most of Circle’s business model is now working with the decentralized currencies from behind the scenes, and the last few months “growth has been significant,” explains Circle.
What do you think about Circle working behind the scenes with bitcoin and other crypto assets? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Images via Shutterstock, and Circle Financial’s blog.
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