Circle has acquired key assets from IBM’s blockchain patent portfolio, giving the USDC issuer one of the largest blockchain intellectual property portfolios in the United States as competition in crypto infrastructure continues to grow.
The deal includes more than 680 patent families and nearly 1,000 issued patents worldwide, covering blockchain infrastructure, digital payments, banking, enterprise systems, supply chain verification, insurance and secure cloud technologies.
Circle has acquired fundamental assets from the @IBM blockchain patent portfolio, including 680+ patent families and nearly 1,000 issued patents worldwide.
The acquisition makes Circle the leading U.S. blockchain patent holder and strengthens the foundation behind USDC, CPN,… pic.twitter.com/lp6F6z55aw
— Circle (@circle) July 27, 2026
The acquisition strengthens Circle’s position as it expands beyond stablecoins into more onchain financial services. The company said the patents will support products including USDC, the Circle Payments Network (CPN), Arc developer tools and future applications focused on internet-native finance.
Sarah Wilson, Circle’s General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, said intellectual property is essential to advancing the company’s mission of expanding global adoption of onchain financial infrastructure. She added that IBM’s long history of innovation will help Circle build the next generation of blockchain-based financial services.
What Circle gains from the acquisition
IBM was one of the world’s most active blockchain patent holders during the technology’s early growth. Between 2018 and 2019, the company filed more than 500 blockchain-related patents covering consensus mechanisms, enterprise blockchain, supply chain solutions and other distributed ledger technologies.
Those patents now become part of Circle’s intellectual property portfolio, strengthening the company’s position as it builds products around USDC and other blockchain services.
Circle had already been expanding its own patent portfolio before the acquisition. In December 2023, it secured a patent for parallel block processing, a technology designed to improve blockchain performance by allowing multiple blocks to be processed at the same time.
Patent protection is becoming a crypto priority
As blockchain technology moves into mainstream finance, intellectual property is becoming increasingly valuable for companies building regulated financial infrastructure.
Circle has taken steps to reduce patent-related legal risks by joining the LOT Network, a defensive patent organization that both it and IBM are members of. The network includes more than 2,800 companies and covers over 3.8 million patents.
Under the arrangement, if a member’s patents are acquired by a patent assertion entity, commonly known as a patent troll, other LOT Network members automatically receive licences to those patents, helping reduce the risk of costly litigation.
IBM moves focus as the blockchain market evolves
IBM was one of the earliest major technology companies to invest heavily in enterprise blockchain, contributing to projects such as Hyperledger Fabric and developing blockchain solutions for corporate clients. Its strategy has gradually moved from developing blockchain platforms to commercializing its intellectual property.
One example was its 2021 partnership with IPwe, which looked at tokenizing corporate patents as NFTs on blockchain networks to make intellectual property easier to manage and trade.
Meanwhile, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire has published a new paper arguing that artificial intelligence and blockchain are converging into what he calls the “agentic economy.”
Enjoyed this? Bookmark DeFi Planet, explore related topics, and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and CoinMarketCap Community for seamless access to high-quality industry insights
Take control of your crypto portfolio with DEFI PLANET PRO, DeFi Planet’s suite of analytics tools.
