Circle buys IBM blockchain patents, becomes largest U.S. holder

Circle acquired IBM’s blockchain patent portfolio, comprising more than 680 patent families and nearly 1,000 issued patents, the company announced Monday, making it the largest holder of blockchain patents in the United States.

The portfolio covers blockchain technology, banking and financial services, enterprise infrastructure, supply chain verification and secure cloud operations, according to Circle.

Circle plans to use the patents to support development of products including USDC, the Circle Payments Network and Arc, and to expand on-chain financial services and AI-powered financial tools. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The company plans to explore additional commercial opportunities with IBM.

Sarah Wilson, Circle’s general counsel and corporate secretary, described intellectual property as a key element for advancing on-chain financial infrastructure and noted IBM’s long history of technological innovation could help the company develop global, internet-native finance infrastructure.

IBM developed the patents over years of blockchain research. The technologies include applications for financial services, insurance, enterprise systems and secure cloud operations. Circle says the portfolio supports enterprise and payments use cases built on distributed ledger technology.

The acquisition follows Circle’s recent expansion beyond its stablecoin business. In recent months the company expanded payments infrastructure, launched enterprise blockchain products and obtained regulatory approvals intended to broaden its role in digital financial services.

On the day of the announcement, Circle’s shares rose 4.84% to $65.38, with trading volume around 2.54 million shares. The stock’s daily Relative Strength Index moved to 45.01, below the neutral 50 level.

IBM was an early corporate investor in enterprise blockchain, developing solutions for banking, trade finance and supply chain applications. The sale transfers intellectual property built during that period to Circle, a payments and stablecoin issuer that is expanding in on-chain finance.