Boston-based Circle Internet Financial Ltd., a digital currency products developer, has closed a $110 mln fundraising round led by mining hardware manufacturer Bitmain, Bloomberg reports May 15. The two companies are now partners in a project to create a token which is backed by US dollars.
The investment lifts Circle’s valuation to nearly $3 bln, which is more than six times what it was in 2016. The partnership between Bitmain and Circle has also resulted in plans to develop a fiat-backed token or “stable coin”, which aims to address the unstable nature of some cryptocurrencies. The project is called Circle USD Coin, or USDC, and will reportedly be released by Circle in the summer.