$400M Poloniex Acquisition by Goldman Sachs-Backed Venture Circle - Cryptocurrency Podcast by Coin.FM - Bitcoin, Crypto and Blockchain News
Summary: <br> <br> <br> <br> <a href="http://subscribeonandroid.com/podcast.coin.fm/feed/podcast" target="_blank" rel="noopener"></a> <a title="Subscribe to the Coin.FM Cryptocurrency Podcast by Email" href="http://subscribebyemail.com/podcast.coin.fm/feed/podcast/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"></a><br> <br> Episode #16<br> <br> Circle, a peer-to-peer payments technology company founded in 2013, has officially announced it's acquisition of Poloniex, a popular cryptocurrency exchange.<br> <br> Poloniex is the 18th largest cryptocurrency exchange by trade, according to CoinMarketCap.com.<br> <br> Circle already services plenty of big money "whales" in the cryptocurrency market through its Circle Trade offering, which provides over-the-counter transactions with minimums of $250,000 USD.<br> <br> Circle also provides the Circle Pay app, a direct competitor to Paypal's Venmo, which lets users send money with via text message.<br> <br> So, this foray into servicing small crypto-traders seems like a natural evolution.<br> <br> Except that Circle's apparently been there before...<br> <br> Up until late 2016, Circle Pay also operated as a bitcoin wallet service to buy and sell bitcoins. (See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circle_(company)#cite_note-11 ; https://blog.circle.com/2016/12/06/spark-new-markets-app-messaging-and-bitcoin-changes/)<br> <br> Apparently, Circle has decided to pivot -- again -- and the decision is making big waves, especially considering that Goldman Sachs is a major investor in the financial startup.<br> <br> Yes, the same Goldman Sachs that, in 2017, said there was "no need for cryptocurrency" -- and then was rumored to have plans to open a crypto trading desk in 2018 -- and then denied it just a few weeks ago.<br> <br> This move gets Goldman Sach's skin solidly in the game... like it or not.<br> <br> Things do change mighty fast in the crypto sphere!
