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Payments firm Circle is selling its retail digital asset business to Voyager Digital Canada, the operator of U.S. digital asset broker Voyager and the Ethos Universal Wallet.
In a press release dated Feb. 12, Voyager said that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Circle Invest from Circle Internet Financial.
Circle Invest, Circle’s cryptocurrency investing product, was officially launched in March 2018 as the company opened early access availability to US residents in 46 states, barring Minnesota, Wyoming, Hawaii, and New York.
According to the details, Voyager will issue common shares to Circle representing an approximate 4% ownership stake in the company, post-closing, and reimbursement of certain costs incurred by Circle.
Voyager adds 40k retail accounts
With this acquisition, Voyager will add over 40,000 retail accounts to its customer base, which would position it among the largest digital-asset-only agency brokers in the U.S., servicing over 200,000 global users across its platforms. The majority of Circle Invest customers are expected to be converted to the Voyager Platform by the end of March of this year.
"This product line acquisition signifies a tremendous development for Voyager as we welcome a substantial number of new users to our platform," said Stephen Ehrlich, Co-Founder and CEO of Voyager. "This transaction also helps us deliver on our promise to investors, providing regulated brokerage services and resources to as many users as possible in the digital asset marketplace."
Access to new features for Circle Invest customers
For Circle Invest customers, the acquisition would mean access to expanded digital assets and new investment and trading features from the Voyager suite of products and services. They will have access to Voyager's unique brokerage services, which include commission-free trading of more than 30 crypto assets, lock-up free interest yield on popular coins, digital transfers, secure omnibus custody wallets and portfolio management tools such as limit orders, news and alerts.
"We're very happy to be able to provide Circle Invest customers with a broader depth of retail investment features through the transaction with Voyager," said Rachel Mayer, Director of Product Management at Circle. "This transition comes at a time when Circle is launching new platform services and products for businesses around the world to help them bring the benefits of stablecoins into their products and grow global commerce in new and innovative ways."
Voyager to integrate Circle Invest's "collections"
Voyager will integrate Circle Invest's "collections" feature, which allows customers to buy baskets of assets grouped by their attributes and weighted according to their market capitalization. In addition, it will also integrate features of Circle's new stablecoin platform service into the Voyager Platform. It will leverage Circle's USDC and platform products to solidify its treasury management infrastructure and expand internationally.
"We look forward to integrating all of the Circle stablecoin platform services into our service offerings to better serve our customers,” Ehrlich added.
Circle and Voyager will also join forces on strategic business initiatives, such as delivering fast, global, low-cost payments to the combined Voyager customer base.
