Circle Internet Financial

October 2013

Circle Internet Financial founded by Jeremy Allaire and Sean Neville in Boston, Massachusetts.

2015

Circle receives the first BitLicense from the New York Department of Financial Services.

September 2018

Circle introduces USDC through the Centre Consortium alongside Coinbase and Bitmain.

2019

Sean Neville steps down as co-CEO; Jeremy Allaire becomes sole CEO.

8 August 2022

OFAC sanctions Tornado Cash. Circle freezes USDC linked to sanctioned addresses the same day. Separately, approximately $45 million USDC in Nomad Bridge hack addresses is never blacklisted despite a 30–45 minute freeze window.

11 October 2022

Mango Markets exploited for approximately $110 million; ZachXBT later documents approximately $57.5 million in USDC routed through Circle was never frozen.

10 March 2023

Silicon Valley Bank fails. Circle discloses $3.3 billion in USDC cash reserves held at SVB, representing approximately 8% of USDC backing.

11 March 2023

USDC depegs to a low of approximately $0.87, its most severe peg deviation. Federal intervention ensuring SVB depositors are made whole leads to rapid recovery.

2023

Centre Consortium dissolved; Circle becomes sole governor of USDC.

11 March 2025

Circle launches CCTP V2 on Ethereum and Avalanche, adding 30-second fast finality and programmable post-transfer hooks.

22 May 2025

Cetus Protocol hacked for $223 million on Sui. Attackers bridge 61 million USDC via Circle's infrastructure in 90 minutes. Circle blacklists the funds one month later, after conversion to Ether.

5 June 2025

Circle completes IPO on NYSE (CRCL) at $31/share, raising over $1.1 billion. Shares surge approximately 168% on day one.

18 July 2025

President Trump signs the GENIUS Act into law, establishing the first comprehensive U.S. federal stablecoin regulatory framework. Classifies stablecoin issuers as financial institutions under the Bank Secrecy Act.

12 December 2025

Circle receives conditional OCC approval to establish First National Digital Currency Bank, N.A., a national digital currency trust bank.

25 January 2026

Swapnet hacked for $16 million; approximately 3 million USDC accessible for two days while freeze requests are allegedly denied by Circle. Funds converted before court orders materialize.

23 March 2026

Circle freezes USDC in 16 business wallets tied to a sealed U.S. civil case (approximately case 26-cv-2327), including the DFINITY Foundation's ckETH Minter smart contract, in what critics later call an overcorrection. At least five wallets are subsequently unfrozen.

April 2026

Drift Protocol exploited for approximately $285 million, attributed to North Korean state-linked actors. Approximately $232 million in USDC bridged from Solana to Ethereum via CCTP across 100+ transactions over six hours during U.S. business hours. Circle takes no freeze action despite being alerted within approximately one hour.

2 April 2026

ZachXBT publishes 'Welcome to the Circle USDC Files' on X, documenting 15 cases totaling over $420 million in alleged missed freezes since 2022.

10 April 2026

Circle Chief Policy Officer Dante Disparte publishes blog post defending court-order-only freeze policy and calling for industry 'circuit breakers.'

13 April 2026

Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire publicly states USDC freezes require a court order or law enforcement directive, describing discretionary action as a 'moral quandary.'

14 April 2026

Joshua McCollum files McCollum v. Circle class action in federal court in Massachusetts, alleging aiding and abetting, negligence, and Bank Secrecy Act violations.

16 April 2026

Drift Protocol announces $147.5 million rescue package from Tether and partners, including USDC replacement with USDT as primary settlement asset on relaunch.

27 April 2026

American Banker publishes 'Circle Won't Freeze. Tether Will.' comparing freeze policy philosophies and citing AMLBot data showing Tether freezes assets at approximately 30 times Circle's rate.