Circle Cuts Bitcoin Buying and Selling in Product Pivot
Circle Internet Financial, once one of the best-funded early bitcoin startups, has announced it will no longer allow customers to buy and sell the digital currency. Confirmed today via an announcement in The Wall Street Journal and first revealed at last night in a customer update, Circle said it will now focus on using a soon-to-be-launched proprietary blockchain-based protocol called Spark. Customers can continue to store bitcoin using the Circle app, however, those who want to buy and sell digital currency will be directed to digital asset exchange service Coinbase, once one of Circle's....
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You could say there was a certain feeling that went beyond the news. On the surface, Circle's decision to stop offering bitcoin buying and selling services might have precedent. The company had long talked about its drive toward social payments, and its belief in the bitcoin protocol as a foundational layer for finance, not a currency for consumers. It may not even be that impactful. Circle will continue trading (buying and selling) bitcoin on behalf of its customers to move money, and it will continue using the protocol as the base for a new hybrid blockchian platform called Spark. Yet,....
Circle, one of the earliest and best-funded startups in the bitcoin industry has announced a curtain call on selling and buying the cryptocurrency. The former bitcoin startup hinted at folding as a bitcoin exchange in a blog late last night. An excerpt from that blog read: [W]e’re making payments more social than ever and diving headfirst into next-gen blockchain technology, rather than the buying and selling of bitcoin itself. While Circle will cease buying and selling of bitcoin, the company will continue to allow customers to hold bitcoin within their registered accounts, as well as....
Circle is switching their services to tackling the social payment space. Circle is a company entwined with Bitcoin for quite some years now. The company offers exchange services, as well as a wallet solution and money transmission capabilities. But Circle is halting their Bitcoin exchange services permanently to focus on blockchain-based services. All users can withdraw their funds to a different wallet, but buying or selling cryptocurrency will no longer be possible. It is a sad day for Bitcoin users relying on Circle to buy smaller amounts of cryptocurrency. After multiple years of loyal....
As you've likely heard, Circle announced this week that it had closed down its bitcoin exchange, a move the mainstream press interpreted as a "surprising" pivot away from bitcoin and another nail in the cryptocurrency’s coffin. The reaction is understandable, given Circle's significance in the bitcoin space. But it is wrong, on many levels: It is not a surprise. Nor is it a pivot. It is not a rejection of bitcoin. Nor is it bad news for the sector. Let's go through these points in order, and then take a look at the trend this news highlights. Retracing steps. The move is not unexpected:....
Bitcoin blockchain-centric P2P Fintech firm Circle has now added support for bitcoin buying and selling in several European countries beyond the UK. Six months after bitcoin exchange and services firm Circle saw an electronic money license granted by the British government, the company is pushing on to other countries in Europe. Users from sixteen countries including the likes of Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and Spain will now be able to link their Euro-based credit and debit cards. Notably, there are no fees for buying bitcoin with debit cards, making Circle stand out in a growing list....