Crypto exchange Binance went from being paid tens of millions to promote Circle's stablecoin to becoming a $100 million shareholder in the company.
- According to a Circle filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Binance bought about 1.2 million Class A shares for roughly $80.8 each in a private placement that closed Sept. 17.
- That purchase gave the exchange a roughly $100 million stake in the U.S.-listed stablecoin issuer.
- The deal deepens a relationship that already involved tens of millions of dollars flowing in the opposite direction.
Circle was already paying Binance
In November 2024, Circle struck a two-year agreement under which Binance agreed to promote USDC on its exchange and keep part of its own corporate treasury in the stablecoin.
Circle later disclosed in its SEC filings that it paid Binance a one-time upfront fee of about $60.2 million, while also agreeing to monthly incentive payments tied to the amount of USDC held on Binance and in its treasury.
Binance agreed, with some exceptions, to keep $3 billion in USDC in its treasury. The monthly treasury payments applied as long as those holdings remained at or above $1.5 billion.
The arrangement effectively made Binance a paid distributor of Circle's main product. Its new $100 million investment now makes the exchange a Circle shareholder as well.
The investment lands as prosecutors probe Binance again
The investment comes just as U.S. federal prosecutors are investigating whether Binance violated sanctions on Iran by failing to stop certain trades, Bloomberg reported on Sept. 22, citing people familiar with the matter.
The Manhattan U.S. Attorney's Office is said to be examining Binance's compliance controls, while Justice Department officials are reportedly also looking at whether the exchange knowingly allowed the trading, according to the report. No charges have been announced.
In a March 10 blog post, the exchange rejected reporting about its Iran-linked activity as false and said its compliance system had successfully identified suspicious accounts, removed them and reported the activity to law enforcement.
Binance said its direct exposure to four major Iranian crypto exchanges had fallen more than 97.3%, from about $4 million in January 2024 to about $110,000 in January 2026. "Our compliance program is effective, it worked here, and any claim to the contrary is factually incorrect," the exchange said.
- Binance pleaded guilty in November 2023 to criminal charges, including U.S. sanctions violations and agreed to pay about $4.3 billion.
- U.S. authorities said the exchange had failed to prevent almost $900 million in trades between users in the U.S. and Iran over four years.
- Binance founder Changpeng Zhao separately pleaded guilty to failing to maintain an effective anti-money-laundering program, stepped down as CEO and later served nearly four months in prison.
- But President Donald Trump pardoned Zhao in October 2025.
- The pardon came just months after Binance became closely tied to World Liberty Financial, the Trump family-linked crypto venture behind the USD1 stablecoin.
- In May 2025, Abu Dhabi investment firm MGX also used USD1 to settle its $2 billion investment in Binance, giving the then-new stablecoin one of its biggest early use cases.
- Binance listed USD1 later that month and expanded support across its trading and savings products.
- Zhao remains a Binance shareholder but no longer runs the exchange.