Circle Internet Financial

2013-10-01

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

2015-01-01

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

2018-09-01

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

2019-01-01

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

2022-08-08

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.

2022-10-11

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

2023-03-10

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

2023-03-11

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.

2023-01-01

Centre Consortium dissolved; Circle becomes sole governor of USDC.

2025-03-11

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

2025-05-22

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.

2025-06-05

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

2025-07-18

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.

2025-12-12

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

2026-01-25

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.

2026-03-23

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.

2026-04-01

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.

2026-04-02

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

2026-04-10

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

2026-04-13

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

2026-04-14

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

2026-04-16

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

2026-04-27

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.