Circle Surpasses IBM as Top US Blockchain Patent Holder with IBM Portfolio Acquisition

Circle has acquired nearly 1,000 issued patents and over 680 patent families from IBM's blockchain patent portfolio. This acquisition makes Circle the top holder of U.S. blockchain patents, surpassing IBM's previous lead.

The deal includes patents covering banking, insurance, supply-chain verification, and secure cloud operations, which align with Circle's existing stack, including USDC (US Dollar Coin) and its payments network.

Circle had no prior blockchain patents before the first was granted in December 2023. The acquisition comes nine days ahead of Circle's August 5 Q2 earnings report, which will be a test of how the market weighs Open USD's threat against Circle's actual numbers.