Cointime

Download App
iOS & Android

USDC Issuer Circle Offered $3 Billion Emergency Backstop From Coinbase

A multi-billion dollar emergency credit facility from American crypto exchange Coinbase to Circle Internet Financial recently came to light. The credit line was reportedly offered to the USDC issuer last week after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. The bank contained $3.3 billion of Circle’s reserve deposits that backed the world’s second largest stablecoin.

As per a 20 March report by Fortune, Coinbase offered a whopping $3 billion credit facility to Circle to guarantee the liquidity of its USDC stablecoin. According to people familiar with the matter, Circle had issued instructions to transfer its funds out of Silicon Valley Bank ahead of its collapse. However, the financial institution was seized by the United States Federal Deposit Insurance Deposit Corp (FDIC) before the funds could be wired out. 

This resulted in a $3.3 billion exposure to the bank. When Circle revealed that massive exposure, investors panicked and rushed to pull their funds from USD Coin, causing the stablecoin to lose its peg to the US Dollar. This prompted Coinbase to extend the credit line to ensure sufficient liquidity for the stablecoin. It is important to note that USD Coin is a joint project of Coinbase in association with Circle. The two firms operate under a joint venture known as the CENTRE Consortium. 

Upon receiving clarity from the FDIC regarding the plan of action for the downed bank, USDC regained its peg to USD, rendering the multi-billion dollar credit facility unnecessary.

(By Suzuki Shillsalot)

Related News:

Coinbase No Longer Supporting Signature Bank’s Signet Network

Scam Warning: Circle Phishing Campaign Promises Fake USDC DeFi Swap

USDC in Circulation Fell Over 10% Since De-peg Event

USDC Depeg Will Hinder Stablecoins’ Growth, Increase Regulatory Scrutiny: Moody’s

Circle ‘Substantially Clears’ Backlog of USDC Redemptions

Comments

All Comments

Recommended for you

  • Amazon to invest an additional $4 billion in Anthropic, OpenAI's rival

     Amazon is deepening its cooperation with Anthropic and will add an additional $4 billion investment to the company. In September of this year, Anthropic, an artificial intelligence startup, was seeking a new round of financing with a valuation of up to $40 billion. Anthropic was founded by former OpenAI executives in 2021 and focuses on creating interpretable, secure, and controllable artificial intelligence systems. The company's flagship AI model, Claude, operates based on "Constitutional AI," which uses predefined principles to guide its output, avoiding some erroneous or discriminatory output reactions.
  • Crypto wallet Deblock completes approximately $16.8 million in seed round financing

     Deblock, a cryptocurrency wallet created by former Revolut and Ledger executives, has raised an additional £13.3 million (approximately $16.8 million) in seed funding, as reported in documents submitted to the UK Companies House this month. Primary investors in this round of funding include Headline, Hoxton, 20VC, and Chalfen, according to documents filed in October. Sifted previously reported that the startup had quietly raised €12 million last year. Deblock was founded in August 2022 by former Revolut cryptocurrency chief Jean Meyer, payment chief Aaron Beck, and former Ledger engineering chief Mario Eguiliuz.
  • Stablecoin infrastructure platform Noble receives $15 million in Series A funding led by Paradigm

    stablecoin infrastructure platform Noble has completed a Series A financing round led by Paradigm, raising $15 million. Noble has partnered with stablecoin issuers such as Circle, Ondo Finance, Hashnote Labs, and Monerium, and currently manages assets worth more than $458 million.
  • 0G Labs Completes $40 Million Seed Round and Receives $250 Million Token Purchase Commitment

    Zero Gravity Labs (0G Labs or 0GL), a startup company in the field of cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence, announced that it has raised $290 million in new financing. This includes $40 million in seed funding raised by the laboratory and a $250 million token purchase commitment received by the 0G Foundation (an independent management organization of the 0G protocol).
  • Crypto entertainment platform BetHog completes $6 million seed round of financing

    cryptocurrency sports and entertainment platform BetHog announced the completion of a $6 million seed round of financing, led by 6MV, with participation from Will Ventures, Bullpen Capital, and others. BetHog was founded by Nigel Eccles and Rob Jones, co-founders of FanDuel, and is built on the Solana blockchain, with SOL as the support token for PvP games. In addition, BetHog also supports betting with Bitcoin, Ethereum, and USDT.
  • StakeStone Completes $22 Million Financing, Led by Polychain Capital

    Ethereum liquidity collateral protocol StakeStone announced the completion of a $22 million financing round, led by Polychain Capital. This financing round includes strategic investments from Binance Labs and OKX Ventures, seed round financing led by SevenX, and participation from Nomad Capital, HashKey Capital, and others.
  • Hong Kong venture capital group The Z Label has completed a HK$90 million financing and plans to use blockchain and other new technologies to empower its products

    Hong Kong venture group The Z Label announced the completion of a HKD 90 million financing round, led by Beyond Ventures. The new funds will be used to create innovative consumer products for the global Z generation, utilizing new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), big data, spatial computing, and blockchain to find early market fit. The company will also combine technology research and development with cross-industry collaboration to drive enterprise incubation and industry innovation.
  • Decentralized AI orchestration platform Naptha AI completes $6 million Pre-Seed round of financing

    decentralized, multi-agent AI orchestration platform Naptha AI announced the completion of a $6 million Pre-Seed round of financing, led by Arche Capital and Cyber Fund, with participation from Seed Club Ventures, Polymorphic Capital, GnosisDAO, Halo Capital, and others.
  • Coinbase Takes Aim at CFTC's Definition of 'Gaming' in Proposed Prediction Market Rules

    Coinbase argues the definition is vague, and urges the CFTC to make determinations on a contract-by-contract basis rather than broad categorization
  • Coinbase Chief Legal Officer: US SEC blocks Coinbase’s request to disclose Gary Gensler’s communication documents

    Paul Grewal.eth, the Chief Legal Officer of Coinbase, wrote on the X platform that the issues of Chevron and Binance's secondary sales have been clarified, but in Coinbase's lawsuit, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has prevented Coinbase from requesting the disclosure of Gary Gensler's communication documents. In March 2021, Gary Gensler told the U.S. Congress that the SEC lacked regulatory authority over digital asset exchanges, confirming the long-held belief among market participants that digital asset trading on these exchanges is not within the jurisdiction of securities law. Coinbase has requested that Gary Gensler provide documents related to these communications because they are related to how the SEC's enforcement actions violate the due process requirements of the Constitution, but the SEC and Gary Gensler are trying to prevent the disclosure of these documents.