Circle has obtained a Major Payment Institution license in Singapore, highlighting the different regulatory approaches towards crypto companies in Asia and the US. While the SEC is taking a tough stance on crypto in the US, Asia is leading the way in shaping the future of finance.

Jeremy Allaire, CEO and co-founder of Circle, will use his scheduled testimony at a U.S. House Financial Services Committee Hearing to advocate for the importance of the U.S. dollar and urge lawmakers to pass stablecoin legislation.

Despite the recent SEC action against Coinbase, Circle and other crypto companies are still pursuing plans to go public. However, the current environment may pose challenges for most companies looking to do so. Circle's CEO had previously announced plans to become a public company through a merger with a SPAC, but the company did not complete SEC qualification in time. Nonetheless, going public remains a key part of Circle's strategy, as confirmed by a company spokesperson and a recent job posting seeking a corporate counsel to assist with potential SEC processes. Kraken has also hinted at its continued quest to go public in a recent job posting for a senior corporate and securities counsel.

While the editor remains optimistic about the future of cryptocurrency, they believe that crypto-based metaverse projects such as Decentraland and the Sandbox are doomed to fail. Decentraland currently has fewer than 500 users, and even Facebook's Meta project has not been successful in attracting users.

Circle announced that USDC is now natively available on Arbitrum, a leading L2 scaling solution for Ethereum. With a Circle Account, businesses can access on/off-ramps for Arbitrum USDC and readily swap USDC across supported chains, avoiding the costs and delays associated with bridging. Developers choose Arbitrum USDC to build on a stable foundation that’s native to Arbitrum and officially supported by Circle.

Stablecoin giant Circle announced on Thursday that Heath Tarbert, a former regulator who has held senior positions at Citadel Securities and the World Bank, is joining the company as Chief Legal Officer and Head of Corporate Affairs.

Circle, the company behind stablecoin USDC, remains optimistic about its prospects despite recent liquidity issues stemming from the Silicon Valley Bank collapse. The company faced massive redemptions in March 2023 due to fear and uncertainty around its reserves in the bank, but quickly transferred its funds to Bank of New York Mellon.

Circle, a stablecoin issuer, announced on Thursday that it will launch USDC natively on Arbitrum, which will become the official version in the Layer 2 ecosystem and replace bridged liquidity. The benefits of native USDC include new support to eliminate bridge withdrawal delays and the possibility for institutional on and off-ramps. The official launch will take place on June 8, and the Ethereum-bridged version of USDC on block explorers will be renamed as "USDC.e." Circle plans to bring Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol to the Layer 2 network after the launch of native USDC.

Circle Internet Financial, the stablecoin issuer, has removed all U.S. Treasury bonds from its USD Coin (USDC) backing reserves as a precautionary measure against the potential fallout from the U.S. debt ceiling showdown. The Circle Reserve Fund, managed by BlackRock, has shifted all of its $24 billion of assets under management to overnight repurchase agreements as of May 30. This is a significant change from the end of April when the fund held over $30 billion in U.S. Treasury bonds. Circle's move is aimed at protecting the $29 billion USDC stablecoin from potential turbulence in the bond market while U.S. lawmakers seek a deal to avert a government default.

KuCoin Ventures and Circle Ventures, two well-known companies, have been linked to CNH Coin (CNHC), a stablecoin tied to the offshore Chinese yuan. Due to an ongoing investigation in China, this has caused controversy and brought attention to these organizations. The Chinese government is increasing its scrutiny of cryptocurrency, and this has led to a fresh probe into a leading Chinese yuan stablecoin issuer.