Circle to buy nearly 1,000 IBM blockchain patents
Circle will acquire IBM’s blockchain patent portfolio of more than 680 patent families and nearly 1,000 issued patents worldwide. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Circle, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, announced Monday that it will acquire IBM’s blockchain patent portfolio. The package includes over 680 patent families and nearly 1,000 issued patents registered across multiple countries. The company did not disclose financial terms of the transaction.
Circle said the acquisition gives it the largest blockchain patent holding in the United States and will support its work on payments, tokenization and other digital finance services. The firm framed the purchase as strengthening its intellectual property position for building internet-native financial infrastructure.
The patents were developed during IBM’s years of blockchain research and include a strong focus on supply chain applications designed to improve tracking and transparency across multiple intermediaries. Patent filings by IBM in the blockchain area peaked in 2018 and 2019, when more than 500 related patents were submitted, and have slowed since then, according to patent research firm GreyB.
CRCL shares rose by more than 2% in premarket trading after Circle announced the deal.
Sarah Wilson, Circle’s general counsel and corporate secretary, described IBM as “a pioneer in technological innovation” and said the acquisition expands Circle’s ability to advance the infrastructure that powers global, internet-native finance.
The portfolio reflects IBM’s enterprise focus and contains patents filed and issued across several jurisdictions. IBM did not provide additional comment about the sale in Circle’s announcement.
Circle is best known as the issuer of USDC, a dollar-pegged stablecoin used across cryptocurrency markets and some payment systems. IBM has invested in blockchain research aimed at enterprise adoption, particularly for tracking goods and improving transparency in complex supplier networks.
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