Goldman Sachs Leads $50M Funding Round for 'Circle'

Yesterday, Bitcoin Broker and Services Provider 'Circle.com' announced that they had just finished a $50 Million strategic investment round that included Goldman Sachs and IDG Capital Partners. Goldman Sachs and China-based IDG Capital Partners were joined by all of Circle’s existing investors in the round, including Breyer Capital, General Catalyst Partners, Accel Partners, Oak Investment Partners, Fenway Summer, Digital Currency Group, Pantera Capital, and strategic individuals. Circle has been a leading company in the Bitcoin industry, and seeing a financial heavyweight such as Goldman Sachs invest in them, brings added confidence to the industry as a whole. We currently do not know what valuation the funding was based on, and as a result do not know the amount of ownership stake Goldman has acquired.



In addition to announcing the new funding round, Circle has launched a brand new USD Wallet, competing with a similar feature that Coinbase implemented in December. Customers can now choose to hold USD and Bitcoin balances in their wallets, and all USD balances are FDIC-insured (the same federal insurance provided to traditional bank account holders). Furthermore, customers who choose to hold dollars can still pay any bitcoin accepting merchant, and Circle will handle the conversion instantly. This feature essentially enables customers to enjoy the benefits of bitcoin payments without being exposed to price volatility risk.