Coinbase acquires equity stake in Circle
Circle and Coinbase, the founding companies behind Centre Consortium, a jointly managed self-governance consortium for USDC, have agreed that the requirement of a separate governance body like Centre, is no longer needed.
Centre will no longer exist as a stand-alone entity and Circle will remain as the issuer of USDC, bringing any Centre governance and operations responsibilities in-house. The new structure will streamline the operations and governance, and enhance the direct accountability of Circle as the issuer, including holding all the smart contract keys, complying with regulations on governance of reserves and enabling USDC on new blockchains.
Coinbase and Circle have reached a new agreement. Coinbase is taking an equity stake in Circle.
Coinbase and Circle will continue to generate revenue from USDC reserves interest income. Under the parties’ new arrangement, this revenue will continue to be shared based on the amount of USDC held on each of the platforms, and additionally they will now equally share in interest income generated from the broader distribution and usage of USDC.