In a stunning revelation, Ryan Y Yi, a former member of Coinbase Ventures, the funding arm of the U.S.’s largest crypto trade, Coinbase, has hinted at the potential of the U.S.- based mostly crypto trade buying Circle, the USDC stablecoin issuer. In an X submit, Yi said that the strategic transfer would enable Coinbase to capitalize on USDC’s rising significance.
In line with Yi, Coinbase’s share of USDC circulation has skilled important development. As of Q1 2025, Coinbase’s USDC shares had reached round 23% of the stablecoin’s whole provide, reflecting speedy development. Moreover, USDC has change into Coinbase’s second-largest income. Therefore, Yi argued that buying the Circle outfit can be strategic and permit the crypto trade to seize USDC-related income totally.
Yi clarified Coinbase’s present place per income from its USDC shares, explaining that the trade solely earns full reserve revenue on on-platform USDC and splits off-platform revenue 50/50 with Circle regardless of holding 4 occasions extra USDC. In the meantime, Coinbase performs a major position within the adoption of USDC.
Income Good points Drive Rumors
Contemplating Coinbase’s present standing per USDC shares, the revenue-sharing mannequin limits the crypto trade’s skill to scale its buyer and developer-facing merchandise. In line with Yi, the present scenario doesn’t bestow protocol-level management on Coinbase. Subsequently, he believes buying Circle will remove that constraint.
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Moreover, Yi added that by buying Circle, Coinbase would get full income attribution on USDC and governance over the USDC protocol. It can additionally enable multichain integrations and strategic flexibility throughout key merchandise like Coinbase Pockets and Base.
Additional, the previous Coinbase Ventures member cited each corporations’ understanding of the long-term worth of such a growth and highlighted the synergetic potential concerned regardless of each events not reaching any particular deal phrases but. In the meantime, Circle has denied studies of ongoing acquisition talks with Coinbase and Ripple, describing them as baseless rumors.
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