Binance buys $100 million stake in Circle and extends USDC deal to five years

Binance buys 1.24 million Circle shares for $100 million

Binance has bought a $100 million stake in Circle, the company behind the USDC stablecoin, and the two firms have expanded their USDC promotion deal to five years. A stablecoin is a crypto token designed to hold a steady value, usually tied to the US dollar.

The exchange bought 1,237,011 shares of Circle's Class A common stock at $80.84 per share in a private placement, according to an 8-K filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. An 8-K is a form public companies file to report major events to regulators. A private placement is a share sale made directly to a buyer rather than on the open market.

The share purchase closed right after the companies signed the subscription agreement and expanded their commercial arrangements.

Key numbers and terms

• Binance bought 1,237,011 Circle shares at $80.84 each, for a total of $100 million.
• The purchase was disclosed in an SEC filing on Tuesday, September 22, 2026.
• The new commercial deal runs for five years and covers promotion of USDC held through Circle's Modular Smart Contract Wallet infrastructure.
• Under the deal, Circle agreed to pay Binance a monthly incentive fee based on a percentage of the USDC held through that wallet service.
• The new agreement replaces earlier agreements between the two companies signed in 2024 and 2025.

What the SEC filing shows

The filing is the primary source for the share purchase and the terms tied to it. According to the filing, either company holds unilateral termination rights before the deal expires, under specified conditions. The filing does not describe those conditions in the reported details.

Binance's shares come with restrictions. The exchange cannot sell, transfer, or hedge the shares for two years, unless it ends the commercial arrangement under certain circumstances, subject to customary exceptions. Binance keeps voting rights on the stake during that period.

What is confirmed

The share count, price per share, total purchase amount, the five-year term, the monthly incentive fee structure, the replacement of the 2024 and 2025 agreements, and the two-year restriction on the shares all come from the SEC filing.

What is not yet clear

The reported details do not state the size of the monthly incentive fee, the total value of the five-year arrangement, or the specific conditions under which either party can end the deal early. There is also no information in the filings on how much USDC is held through the wallet service covered by the deal.

Circle's wider USDC push

The deal comes as Circle expands the infrastructure around USDC beyond the token itself. Last week the New York-based company launched the public mainnet of Arc, its Layer 1 blockchain, where USDC is used to pay transaction fees. A Layer 1 blockchain is a base network that runs on its own, rather than being built on top of another chain.

Circle said more than 100 applications were available at launch. Its founding validator group includes BlackRock, DTCC, ICE, Mastercard, and Visa.

Why this matters

The agreement links a large crypto exchange to promoting USDC, and gives Circle a monthly payment structure tied to how much USDC is held through its wallet service. For Binance, the stake in Circle comes with a two-year limit on selling or transferring the shares.

Sources

• The Block