Circle Snaps Up Nearly 1,000 IBM Blockchain Patents
Circle Internet Group has acquired nearly 1,000 issued patents from IBM's blockchain patent portfolio. The deal includes more than 680 patent families covering blockchain infrastructure, banking, payments, insurance, and enterprise systems.
The acquisition strengthens Circle's position as a leader in blockchain patent holdings in the United States, according to the company. Circle did not disclose the financial terms of the deal or which specific patents will be used for its products, including USDC, Circle Payments Network, Arc, and agentic finance tools.
The IBM portfolio includes patents related to secure cloud operations and enterprise infrastructure, which may overlap with systems used by autonomous financial software. Circle faces competition in the stablecoin and payment network markets from other companies, such as Open USD, a model that shares stablecoin economics with network participants.