Circle Announces Acquisition of Hashnote and USYC Tokenized Money Market Fund Alongside Strategic Partnership with Global Trading Firm DRW

Strategic acquisition accelerates Circle’s product offerings and competitive position in digital asset capital markets; as the largest Tokenized Money Market Fund (TMMF) in the world, US Yield Coin (USYC) will play a critical role as collateral in digital asset markets; DRW partnership via Cumberland brings one of the largest liquidity providers in the world to support USDC and USYC adoption.

Circle also announces planned native USDC support on Canton Network, enabling private transactions and the use of USDC and USYC in TradFi markets.

DAVOS, Switzerland & NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, Circle Internet Group, Inc. a global financial technology company and stablecoin market leader, announced its acquisition of Hashnote – the issuer of USYC incubated by Cumberland Labs – which according to 3rd-party analysts RWA.xyz is the largest tokenized treasury and money market fund in the world, with $1.52B deployed into USYC as of January 15, 2025.

Circle intends to fully integrate USYC with USDC, offering seamless access between TMMF collateral and USDC, one of the world’s most popular stablecoins. This will enable USYC to emerge as a preferred form of yield-bearing collateral on crypto exchanges, and also with custodians and prime brokers.

“The integration of USYC and Hashnote into Circle’s platform marks a major moment in the evolution of the stablecoin market, as cash and yield-bearing short-duration treasury bill assets become fungible and convertible at the speed of blockchains and crypto capital markets. This is a huge unlock for a market that is increasingly being driven by institutional adoption, and where participants increasingly expect market structures that are common in TradFi,” said Jeremy Allaire, CEO and Chairman of Circle. “We helped invent tokenized cash, and are now leading the way in tokenized money markets, both of which we believe will become essential to the future of the global financial system. Circle’s acquisition of Hashnote and our strategic partnership with DRW-affiliate Cumberland are crucial to driving and delivering these products at scale.”

“Hashnote’s beginnings are rooted in recognizing the pivotal role blockchain-based transparency and settlement would play in future financial transactions,” said Leo Mizuhara, CEO and Founder of Hashnote. “Joining Circle increases our ability to rapidly scale adoption by pairing USDC, a widely-used, liquid payment and trading stablecoin, with USYC, a safe, Tokenized Money Market Fund for yield-bearing collateral.”

The deal is bolstered by a strategic partnership with DRW, one of the largest institutional crypto traders via its subsidiary Cumberland. As marquee products for its trading operation, Cumberland will expand its institutional-grade liquidity and settlement capabilities in USDC and USYC, where permitted. Cumberland’s expertise and own use cases will help drive innovation in the use of these products for more efficient and seamless collateral management.

USYC is already supported by many major digital asset trading firms and derivatives exchanges.

Additionally, alongside these strategic deals, Circle is also announcing its planned deployment of native USDC on Canton, the leading public blockchain for fully private and secure financial applications. With over $3.6 trillion in RWA issued and over $1.5 trillion repo/month, Canton is already used and supported by major traditional banks, trading firms, asset managers and exchanges. With USYC already supported on Canton, offering native USDC integration will enable a seamless and 24/7/365 convertibility between collateral and cash for use in TradFi markets onchain.

“For over a decade I have championed the opportunity for traditional finance to be made more efficient and resilient by leveraging public blockchains," said Don Wilson, CEO and Founder of DRW, a trading firm active in both traditional finance and cryptoassets. "I am excited to partner with Circle in its quest to make this a reality. By utilizing the Canton blockchain, which offers configurable privacy, for USDC, and acquiring Hashnote, which issues USYC, Circle unites the key elements necessary to enable 24/7 collateral and variation margin movement across both crypto and traditional markets."

Disclaimer
Information about Hashnote’s advisory services and USYC is directed only to individuals and entities who are not US Persons, as defined in Regulation S under the Securities Act of 1933.

About Circle
Circle is a global financial technology firm that enables businesses of all sizes to harness the power of digital currencies and public blockchains for payments, commerce, and financial applications worldwide. Through its regulated entities, Circle is the issuer of USDC and EURC - highly liquid, interoperable, and trusted money protocols on the internet. Circle’s open and programmable platform and APIs make it easy for organizations to run their internet-scale business, whether it is making international payments, building globally-accessible Web3 apps, or managing their internal treasury. Learn more at https://circle.com.

About DRW
DRW is a diversified trading firm with decades of experience bringing sophisticated technology and exceptional people together to operate in markets around the world. Headquartered in Chicago with almost 2,000 employees around the globe, we trade a number of asset classes, including Fixed Income, ETFs, Equities, FX, Commodities and Energy. We also utilize our trading and risk management expertise via three subsidiaries: Cumberland, which focuses on cryptoassets, DRWVC, which invests in fintech and enterprise tech firms, and Convexity, our real estate investment arm. For more information visit https://drw.com/.

About Canton
The Canton Network is the only public blockchain in the financial industry with on-chain privacy essential to the seamless movement of assets and capital on decentralized open rails. With more than $3.6 trillion in tokenized assets on-chain, Canton's proven institutional-grade scale synchronizes previously siloed systems with the configurable privacy and controls required to unlock asset mobility across tradfi and crypto ecosystems. Launched in July, 2024, the public infrastructure is governed by the Global Synchronizer Foundation and supported by the Linux Foundation to facilitate fair and transparent governance, while fostering innovation across the ecosystem. Learn more at: canton.network.