Circle Gets the Green Light from Abu Dhabi, USDC Soars to $62B 🚀

What you need to know, if you care about money and crypto:

Circle, in case you didn’t know, just got a thumbs up from Abu Dhabi’s Financial Services Regulatory Authority. Yes, that’s right—Abu Dhabi! It’s like the VIP pass to expand in the Middle East.
Stablecoins are slowly but surely becoming the next big thing. Traditional payments? Pfft, that’s so 2010s.
By the way, USDC just hit a whopping $62 billion—no big deal. Circle is just taking over the payments world one stablecoin at a time, and guess what? They’re in a “quiet period” after filing for an IPO in the U.S. How mysterious…

Circle, that mighty issuer of the second-largest stablecoin (USDC, for those living under a rock), has been given the green light by Abu Dhabi. It’s like they’ve passed some mystical test to conquer the Middle East. Well, sort of.

The Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) of the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) just handed Circle the “in-principal” approval to play the money services game. All they need now is the full license to start printing the USDC—almost as good as a full ticket to ride the Middle Eastern crypto rollercoaster. The paperwork was done last December, so Circle’s been *patiently* waiting for this moment.

Jeremy Allaire, Circle’s CEO (who probably has an endless supply of business jargon), said this approval “advances our strategy to establish deep roots in markets embracing the onchain economy, creating new pathways for investment and innovation in the region.” Translation: We’re expanding, get used to it. 🚀

Oh, and it doesn’t stop there. Circle also teamed up with Hub71, Abu Dhabi’s tech ecosystem. Yes, that’s right—grants, digital regulatory sandboxes, and institutional access. So, basically, the crypto kids are getting all the toys. 🙄

But wait—Circle’s being all mysterious, refusing to spill the beans on future plans because they’re in the dreaded “quiet period.” Which, by the way, is *probably* a strategy to make us all more curious. 👀

As regulations around stablecoins become more *official* worldwide, Circle is working its way through the global red tape. It proudly boasts about being the first large stablecoin issuer to comply with the European Union’s MiCA regulations. Oh, and last month, USDC launched in Japan. Yup, that happened too. 🌍

Last week, in case you missed it, Circle introduced a cross-border payments network, because why not? It’s all about boosting stablecoin usage. Because, honestly, who wouldn’t want to be part of the coolest financial revolution?

2025-04-29 12:31

What you need to know, if you care about money and crypto:

Read More