Circle Internet Financial Explores Acquisition Offers at a Valuation of at Least $5 Billion

The discussions are said to involve Coinbase, a long-time partner, and Ripple, which recently launched its own RLUSD stablecoin and has been actively seeking acquisitions.

Circle Internet Financial, the company behind the USDC stablecoin, is reportedly exploring acquisition offers at a valuation of at least $5 billion, even as it pursues plans to go public, according to Fortune.

The discussions are said to involve Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN), a long-time partner, and Ripple (NYSE:PYPL), which recently launched its own RLUSD stablecoin and has been actively seeking acquisitions.

Reportedly, Ripple made an offer in April that was valued between $4 billion and $5 billion, but Circle declined, calling the price too low.

The reported talks come as Circle, which filed a prospectus for an IPO last month, seeks to balance growth ambitions with market realities. The company previously abandoned a planned SPAC deal in 2022 that would have valued it at $9 billion, as market conditions deteriorated during the crypto downturn.

Circle’s future remains closely tied to USDC, the second-largest stablecoin by market cap and a key player in crypto payments and DeFi markets. It’s also deeply integrated with Coinbase, which helped co-found the CENTRE Consortium to govern USDC and earned $900 million in distribution fees from Circle in 2024 alone.

According to the firm’s S-1 filing with the SEC, Circle booked $155.7 million in net income for 2024, a steep drop from $267.6 million in 2023. Though this reflects a sharp rebound from the $768.8 million loss in 2022, some observers see troubling signs when comparing Circle’s performance to that of its offshore rival Tether, which reported $13 billion in profits for the same period — most of it from U.S. Treasury yield.

Coinbase is expected to soon join the S&P 500, becoming the first major crypto-native company to do so. It has also been exploring acquisitions of its own, including derivatives exchange Deribit and privacy project IronFish.

Circle’s reported valuation suggests that investors still see strategic value in stablecoins, particularly as Washington moves toward legislation. President Donald Trump has called for stablecoin regulation to pass by the end of the summer, giving issuers and exchanges more clarity.

Still, market analysts are skeptical of a wave of new crypto IPOs unless broader macro conditions improve. Circle joins Kraken, BitGo, and other firms that showed interest in going public, but may face delays if capital markets remain cautious.

Circle has not yet commented on the reported acquisition talks.