Nearly half of the financing target has shrunk, and the US encryption company Circle announced layoffs.

The star business OTC business is also surrounded by rivals.

Following the announcement of layoffs, the digital currency payment company Circle once again reported a reduction in financing targets.

It is reported that Circle was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in Dublin. It is a startup company specializing in mobile payment and cryptocurrency. It was once the title of “US version of Alipay”. Circle's business lines include: Circle Pay, which provides legal currency transfer services, Circle Trade, which conducts digital currency transfer transactions, and Circle Invest, which helps retail investors invest in the digital currency market. Not only that, but also through the acquisition and cooperation of the trading platform Poloniex The equity crowdfunding site SeedInvest and the USDC stable currency with Coinbase; so far, a total of $246 million in public funding has been raised from Pantera Capital, Digital Currency Group and Bitcoin.

On May 22nd, Cicle CEO Jeremy Allaire announced on Twitter that the company had fired 30 employees. Allaire said that layoffs are an attempt to cut costs, making these changes in response to a new market environment, and most importantly, the regulatory environment in the United States is becoming more stringent, and the company itself is "still strong and healthy."

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According to the block quoted sources familiar with the matter, the company is seeking $150 million in financing, which is far below the $250 million target reported by The Information in March this year, a 40% reduction. Sources include a former employee of the company and a person reviewing their investment promotion desk.

Just in the middle of this month, Pollonex, a Circle exchange, was affected by the regulation and stopped offering nine digital assets to US customers: ARDR, BCN, DCR, GAME, GAS, LSK, NXT, OMNI and REP. In response, CEO Allaire has issued a statement that “The US encryption policy needs to change”, saying that it is against the US government's practice of treating most digital currencies as securities, and regulation has failed to keep pace with the encryption industry.

In addition, the block believes that OTC crypto trading, as the core business of Circle, was once the star business of the digital currency market, and also faced the risk of Waterloo, even though the official announcement of the Circle on January 3, 2019 was off-site. The trading department Circle Trade processed $2 billion in over-the-counter transactions in 2018 and executed about 10,000 transactions with 6,000 different parties.

But as profit margins continue to shrink, and new players such as many platforms enter the cryptocurrency market, Circle's OTC business may also face strong enemies. For example, Coinbase quietly launched over-the-counter trading services in November this year. According to data company Diar, Coinbase's over-the-counter volume in December has exceeded $5 billion, and it has surpassed the bitcoin investment trust launched by established company Grayscale (Bitcoin). Investment Trust, GBTC).

However, Circle declined to comment on the financing target and noted that its Circle Trade business is profitable, while Poloniex will add more new assets, non-US user margin trading and more customers in the second quarter.

Original article, author: aloe.

Source: Planet Daily; violation of laws and regulations must be investigated.

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