Intercontinental Exchange, the company that owns the New York Stock Exchange, has partnered with Circle to start integrating the USDC stablecoin and tokenized money market funds into its platforms. The announcement came Thursday through a joint statement from both firms, confirming the signing of a memorandum of understanding to explore the use of USDC across ICE’s clearinghouses, derivatives exchanges, data businesses, and other market infrastructure. This collaboration links one of the biggest names in traditional finance with one of the largest issuers in crypto. The plan, according to Lynn Martin, president of the NYSE, is to look at Circle’s stablecoin and tokenized assets as tools to build new products inside capital markets. “We believe Circle’s regulated stablecoins and tokenized digital currencies can play a larger role in capital markets as digital currencies become more trusted by market participants as an acceptable equivalent to the US dollar,” Lynn said. With USDC already holding a market cap of over $60 billion, the deal aims to push the stablecoin deeper into regulated finance. ICE looks to expand use of USDC across its global financial systems Circle, headquartered in New York, issues USDC, currently the second-largest stablecoin by market cap after Tether’s USDT, which still holds the top spot with $144 billion and a 63% market share. But USDC is growing faster. In the last three months alone, Circle minted $16.5 billion in new USDC, while only $4.7 billion in new USDT entered circulation. As of March 26, 2025, the number of USDC tokens in circulation hit a record high, with 25.4% market share—up from 20.7% just months earlier. Jeremy Allaire, co-founder and CEO of Circle, said the partnership with ICE is a major step. “ICE’s reputation and global network across markets offer a unique pathway for Circle to integrate USDC into major new use cases, and we are thrilled for the opportunity to innovate together,” Jeremy said in the joint statement. The companies want to explore how USDC can be used across ICE’s products and services—not just in trading crypto but also in traditional markets like bonds and derivatives. That includes examining how tokenized money market funds can be integrated. These are products backed by short-term, low-risk investments like U.S. Treasuries. Most of USDC’s reserves already sit in the Circle Reserve Fund (USDXX), a money market fund registered with the SEC under rule 2a-7. This makes USDC fully redeemable at a one-to-one ratio with U.S. dollars and backed by cash and cash-like assets. USDC is also becoming more visible across payment applications and crypto wallets. Circle says that over 600 million end-user wallets now support USDC worldwide. It launched back in 2018 and has since expanded into several types of payment, trading, and value storage tools. Circle’s regulatory wins accelerate USDC’s rise over Tether One key reason behind USDC’s rapid growth is regulation compliance. In Europe, MiCA, the new crypto ruleset, went live on December 31, 2024. Circle was the first stablecoin issuer to comply, making France its European base. Meanwhile, Tether was delisted from multiple exchanges in the EU because it lacked an e-money license. Coinbase Europe removed USDT in December, and Binance followed in early March. Some trading platforms even offered rewards to users who swapped their USDT for USDC. In Japan, Circle finally got regulatory approval after two years of discussions. Circle Japan KK has joined with SBI Holdings to bring USDC into the Japanese market. It was listed on SBI VC Trade on March 26. Two more major exchanges, Binance Japan and Bitbank, are expected to list USDC next. The role of the Solana blockchain has also helped fuel USDC’s growth. The total stablecoin value on Solana recently passed $10 billion, and USDC makes up 80% of that. Data from Artemis Analytics shows USDC added $16.3 billion in supply on Solana over the past three months, while USDT only added $4.4 billion. More broadly, stablecoins exploded in 2024. They processed more volume than Visa and Mastercard combined, beating them by nearly 8%. The total stablecoin supply jumped by 59%, breaking past $200 billion for the first time. That’s now 1% of all U.S. dollars in circulation, compared to 0.63% at the start of 2024. New laws and new players keep stablecoin wars going In the U.S., lawmakers are still working on regulating stablecoins. The GENIUS Act is under review in Congress. It would bring tighter rules for audits and reserves. Tether, the biggest stablecoin issuer, has faced criticism over its reserves. JPMorgan said Tether might need to sell off some of its Bitcoin holdings to meet possible new rules. A Tether spokesperson said it’ll follow whatever the rules are. Reuters reported that Tether is now talking with one of the Big Four accounting firms—PwC, EY, Deloitte, or KPMG—to get a full independent audit done. The new regulation push comes as Donald Trump, now back in the White House, supports the two stablecoin bills moving through the House and Senate. His crypto group, World Liberty Financial, said on Tuesday that it plans to launch a new stablecoin called USD1 , backed by U.S. Treasuries and cash deposits, and redeemable 1-to-1 with the dollar. There are more new stablecoins coming into the market too. PayPal now has PYUSD. Ripple launched RLUSD. But they’re all chasing after USDC and USDT, the two big players still owning the stablecoin battlefield. Changpeng Zhao, the founder of Binance, commented this week on the growing number of stablecoins in the market. He said that more competition means more liquidity, which is good for traders and long-term crypto adoption. Even with more stablecoins showing up, Circle’s USDC is gaining ground thanks to its full reserve backing and expanding global reach. Cryptopolitan Academy: Want to grow your money in 2025? Learn how to do it with DeFi in our upcoming webclass. Save Your Spot
