Circle Acquires IBM Blockchain Patent Portfolio of About 1,000 Patents

Circle, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, has acquired IBM’s blockchain patent portfolio as it expands its infrastructure.

Circle announced on July 27 that it had acquired IBM’s blockchain patent assets. The deal includes more than 680 core blockchain-related patents worldwide and about 1,000 issued patents.

The portfolio covers core blockchain technology, as well as banking, financial services and insurance, or BFSI, enterprise infrastructure, supply-chain verification and secure cloud operations.

Circle said the acquisition makes it the largest corporate holder of blockchain patents in the US. It plans to use the intellectual property to develop on-chain financial services including USDC, the Circle Payments Network, its enterprise blockchain platform Arc and AI-based agentic finance tools.

Circle and IBM also plan to explore additional business partnership opportunities tied to the deal. “Intellectual property is an important part of expanding on-chain infrastructure and advancing the company’s mission,” Sarah Wilson, Circle’s chief legal officer, said. “IBM has long been a leader in technological innovation, and this acquisition will further strengthen Circle’s ability to build a global internet-based financial infrastructure.”