Circle has doubled its valuation after inking a deal with blank-check company Concord. Concord is the latest so-called Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) - another name for a blank-check company or shell company - to agree a reverse merger with a crypto firm.

Circle, the cryptocurrency startup backed by Goldman Sachs, has agreed to a merger with blank-check company Concord. The deal will value Circle at $3B and the combined market cap of the new entity is expected to be $9B.

Financing of all types has been tough this year, but companies still need to grow. It’s a strange paradox that’s led to explosion of SPACs taking companies public through reverse mergers. TechCrunch understands that one of the latest big private tech companies to ink a deal with a SPAC is Circle, the crypto financial services and stable coin provider that boasts major institutional clients like Goldman Sachs, and is part of the Blockchain Association.

The Unique StableCoin

Circle, a United States-based company, is another popular option for Crypto users in search of a stablecoin. Circle has an especially unique approach to its Stablecoin when compared to other coins, including Tether. Circle takes the stance that transparency helps reassure users that the USD-pegged coin is legitimate. As a result, it opted to undergo frequent third-party audits from regulators and make the results available for public viewing.

Public Auditing by Armanino

After launching a US dollars-backed Stablecoin in September 2019, Circle has partnered with the Florida-based auditing firm Armanino to conduct bi-quarterly audits on its fully reserved dollar tokens.

The Winklevoss Brothers, Cameron and Tyler, have launched a stable coin today called the Gemini dollar after approval from New York regulators. The brothers are famous for the Gemini trading platform (created 4 years ago) in addition to work with Mark Zuckerberg in the early creation of Facebook (they got a settlement for their work). The coin has the approval of the NYDFS, the NY department of financial services.

The coins will be backed by US dollars, thus creating a coin that is more stable in price then others. This is Gemini’s first cryptocurrency coin. They have in the past tried to get an ETF approved for cryptocurrencies but have been rejected by the SEC. The coin is traded on the Ethereum network with the symbol (GUSD). You can easy convert between UDS and GUSD by depositing money into your Gemini account.