Coinbase should acquire Circle, says former Coinbase Ventures exec

Ryan Y Yi, a former member of Coinbase Ventures—the investment arm of the U.S.'s largest crypto exchange, Coinbase—shared on X that Coinbase should, and likely will, acquire USDC stablecoin issuer Circle to fully capitalize on USDC’s growing importance. He noted that Coinbase’s share of USDC circulation has been rising rapidly, reaching around 23% of the total supply in Q1 2025. Since USDC is now Coinbase’s second-largest revenue driver, Yi argued that acquiring Circle would allow the company to fully capture USDC-related revenue. Yi explained that while Coinbase plays the leading role in driving USDC adoption, it only earns full reserve income on on-platform USDC and splits off-platform income 50/50 with Circle—despite holding four times more USDC. This revenue-sharing model limits Coinbase’s ability to scale its consumer and developer-facing products, as it lacks protocol-level control. Acquiring Circle would eliminate that constraint, giving Coinbase full revenue attribution, governance over the USDC protocol and multichain integrations and strategic flexibility across key products like Coinbase Wallet and Base. Yi concluded that such an acquisition is likely inevitable, as both companies understand the long-term value and synergies, even if specific deal terms have yet to materialize. Meanwhile, Circle recently denied a Fortune report claiming it was in acquisition talks with Coinbase and Ripple, calling the rumors baseless.