Circle is founded
Jeremy Allaire and Sean Neville start Circle in Boston with a mission: make moving money "as easy as sending an email."
Source ↗ 0+
Years building
Founded October 2013 in Boston by Jeremy Allaire and Sean Neville. ↗
All of the information on this site is sourced directly from Circle and Arc. Every quote, date, and milestone links back to its primary source on circle.com, developers.circle.com, or docs.arc.io so you can verify it yourself.
Hover the diagram. You're sending $5 of USDC. Arc's validators process it in about a second and the recipient gets $4.9999. The fee (paid in USDC, not in a separate gas token) is what makes Arc different from every other Layer 1.
Official Circle and Arc docs funnel everyone into the developer track. We don't.
Every number below comes from a primary source: IPO filing, official Circle press release, or major-outlet reporting. Click ↗ to verify.
Every milestone below is dated, sourced, and verifiable. Click any "source" link to land on the primary article or press release.
Jeremy Allaire and Sean Neville start Circle in Boston with a mission: make moving money "as easy as sending an email."
Source ↗New York approves Circle as the first BitLicense recipient: a landmark moment for U.S. crypto regulation.
Source ↗Circle and Coinbase co-launch USDC through the Centre Consortium: a fully-reserved, 1:1 USD-backed stablecoin.
Source ↗Circle sells its OTC desk to Kraken. Sean Neville steps down as co-CEO, staying on the board, as Circle refocuses on USDC.
Source ↗Circle joins Visa Fast Track; the first crypto-native Visa corporate card and USDC settlement pilots are announced.
Source ↗USDC reaches its 2022 all-time-high market cap before the late-2022 decline and 2023 SVB crisis.
Source ↗Circle and Concord Acquisition Corp mutually end their proposed combination after the SEC fails to declare the S-4 effective in time.
Source ↗With $3.3B of USDC reserves stranded at Silicon Valley Bank, USDC dips to ~$0.87, then recovers fully on Monday once the FDIC backstops SVB.
Source ↗Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol launches on Ethereum and Avalanche: native USDC burn-and-mint across chains, no third-party bridge risk.
Source ↗Circle buys out Coinbase's 50% Centre stake for ~$210M in stock. Coinbase receives equity in Circle.
Source ↗Circle obtains an EMI license from France's ACPR. USDC and EURC become the first MiCA-compliant stablecoins.
Source ↗Circle prices its IPO at $31, opens at $69, closes near $83: a ~167% first-day pop, among the largest since 1980.
Source ↗The first U.S. federal stablecoin framework requires 1:1 reserves and clear issuer rules: a major regulatory win for Circle.
Source ↗Circle unveils Arc: an open Layer-1 purpose-built for stablecoin finance, with USDC as native gas and sub-second finality.
Source ↗Arc testnet launches with 100+ partners including Visa, HSBC, BlackRock, Ledger, MetaMask, Alchemy, and Chainlink.
Source ↗Circle publishes Arc tokenomics: 10B initial supply (60% ecosystem / 25% Circle / 15% reserves) and a $222M presale at a $3B FDV led by a16z crypto.
Source ↗Mainnet launch is the next milestone on Circle's product vision. No exact date confirmed yet.
Source ↗Hover (or focus) any card to read what each person actually said. Every quote is from a verifiable primary source: a tweet, a Bloomberg piece, a press release, a televised interview. We didn't paraphrase. We didn't invent.
Co-founded Circle in 2013 and led it through USDC's 2018 launch and the June 2025 NYSE IPO. Previously founded Allaire Corporation (ColdFusion) and Brightcove.
You really need to have very deep conviction and very deep moral grounding in the importance of what you are doing in order to persevere. You are going to suffer setbacks, everyone tells you [that] you are wrong, you are going to fail.
Co-founded Circle and helped invent USDC. In 2025 emerged from stealth with Catena Labs, an AI-native financial institution funded by a16z crypto and Circle Ventures.
AI agents will soon conduct most economic transactions, but today's financial systems are unprepared and resistant to interactions with automated intelligence.
Former CFTC Chairman (2019–2021) and Asst. Treasury Secretary for International Markets. Joined Circle July 2023; leads legal, policy, compliance and international expansion.
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.
Joined Circle in 2021 after leading policy and comms for the Diem Association. Runs Circle's global government affairs and is a frequent witness before the U.S. Congress and UK Parliament.
The GENIUS Act is now law: a historic, bipartisan leap for digital finance in the U.S. It sets clear rules for payment stablecoins, anchoring innovation in trust, safety, and the rule of law.
Owns product and engineering, including Arc, CPN and USDC distribution. Previously product lead for AR glasses at Meta, AR platform lead at Google, and early YouTube Product Lead (shipped the YouTube iPhone app in 2007).
Circle has entered into an agreement with Interop Labs to accelerate Arc and CCTP as the hub for multichain digital finance, extending our commitment to supporting interoperability with many onchain networks.
Built Circle's operating backbone over nearly a decade as COO before transitioning to strategic engagement: commercial, NGO and policy partnerships. Frequent Circle voice at WEF and Singapore FinTech Festival.
When women lead, markets expand, communities strengthen, and innovation accelerates. Empowering women isn't symbolic, it's strategic.
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