Overview

  • Circle has purchased over 680 patent families and nearly 1,000 blockchain patents from IBM, establishing itself as the largest blockchain patent holder in the U.S.; financial details remain undisclosed.
  • The acquired patents encompass areas such as banking, insurance, enterprise infrastructure, supply chain verification, and secure cloud operations.
  • Circle intends to leverage these patents across its USDC, Circle Payments Network, Arc blockchain, and AI-driven financial solutions.

Circle, the organization behind USDC—the digital dollar that millions use for payments, savings, and international transfers—has acquired IBM's extensive blockchain patent library, which took the tech giant over ten years to develop. This acquisition, revealed on July 27, grants Circle access to more than 1,000 blockchain patents issued by IBM globally.

Patents provide their holders exclusive rights over specific inventions. For instance, owning a patent for a blockchain transaction processing method allows the holder to control its use and dictate terms to others. IBM has been cultivating this competitive edge since its foray into enterprise blockchain around the mid-2010s.

As of December 2025, patent analytics firm PatSnap reported that IBM held 790 U.S. blockchain patents, leading all American companies, with Bank of America trailing far behind at approximately 200. Circle, which secured its inaugural patent in December 2023 for a method of parallel blockchain data processing—a technique that verifies multiple transaction groups concurrently—has rapidly ascended to the top of the U.S. patent rankings.

According to Circle, "The portfolio consists of over 680 patent families and nearly 1,000 issued patents worldwide, covering essential blockchain technology, banking, financial services, insurance, enterprise infrastructure, supply chain verification, and secure cloud operations," as stated in their official announcement.

Circle plans to utilize these patents across its entire operation. The company remarked, "The expanded IP position directly supports Circle's foundation for building the internet financial system, including USDC, Circle Payments Network, Arc, and a growing suite of on-chain products and agentic financial tools." Arc is Circle's proprietary payment-focused blockchain designed for institutional finance, while the agentic tools are AI-driven software capable of autonomously executing financial transactions without human intervention.

Sarah Wilson, Circle's General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, stated, "Intellectual property is crucial for advancing our mission and expanding the adoption of on-chain infrastructure. IBM has been a pioneer in technological innovation, and this acquisition enhances Circle's capacity to advance the infrastructure that supports global, internet-native finance."

Prior to this acquisition, Circle had joined the LOT Network, a group that protects its members from patent litigation by patent trolls—companies that acquire patents solely to extract settlement payments from other businesses without developing anything themselves. With nearly 1,000 patents now at its disposal, Circle possesses sufficient IP to potentially pursue offensive legal strategies, although it has not disclosed any such intentions.

IBM is also a known partner in the Open Standard, the consortium behind Open USD—a stablecoin launched on June 30 with over 140 supporters, including Visa, Mastercard, Google, BlackRock, Stripe, and Coinbase. Open USD's model distributes reserve income directly to its partner distributors, diverging from the revenue model that Circle relies on for USDC.

In selling its foundational blockchain IP to Circle while supporting a competing stablecoin, IBM has created a complex dynamic. Following the announcement, CRCL shares experienced a 2.57% increase on Monday.