Circle buys IBM blockchain patent trove, tops US rankings
DeFi & Yields ·
The USDC issuer has purchased close to 1,000 blockchain-related patents from IBM, a deal that makes it the leading holder of such intellectual property in the country.
Circle, the company behind the USDC stablecoin, has finalized the purchase of nearly 1,000 blockchain technology patents from IBM, according to a BusinessWire release confirming the transaction. The acquisition places Circle at the top of blockchain patent ownership in the United States, ahead of any other domestic entity.
Some accounts of the deal put the portfolio size at more than 680 patent families rather than a raw count near 1,000, a discrepancy that reflects how patent groupings can be counted either by individual filings or by family clusters covering related inventions in multiple jurisdictions. Either measure represents a substantial addition to Circle's existing intellectual property base.
Circle's own pressroom statement frames the move as reinforcing the company's technical foundation across USDC, its payments infrastructure, and what it describes as agentic finance products. The company has not disclosed the purchase price or specific terms of the transfer from IBM.
Coverage of the transaction has appeared across multiple outlets, including CoinDesk and The Block, both confirming the scale of the patent transfer and Circle's resulting position as the largest US holder in the category. Additional reporting from Leviathan News and WuBlockchain has also tracked the deal, contributing to a total of seven distinct sources documenting the acquisition.
What remains unclear is how Circle intends to deploy this expanded patent portfolio in practice — whether through licensing, defensive use against litigation, or direct integration into future product development. The financial terms of the IBM transaction have not been made public, and neither company has indicated whether further intellectual property deals are under discussion.