Circle Moves to Bermuda. Why?

Circle has announced that it is moving almost 100% of its exchange operations to offshore, as it became known today after receiving a license to conduct business in Bermuda. According to Circle CEO Jeremy ALLAIRE, approximately 70% of Poloniex users live outside the US, and now the Circle office in Bermuda will be now in charge of these accounts:

“Europe and Asia are both pretty significant markets for us in particular [and] the USDC stablecoin is particularly popular with institutional Asian investors.”

Such move by Circle is due to the unstable regulation situation in the USA and it is quite possible that other crypto companies may follow their example. The hearing in the Senate and the US Congress regarding Facebook Libra last week could provoke the “escape” of crypto companies: Steve MNUCHIN suggested that there should be more strict regulation for the industry.

A number of US cryptocurrency companies have repeatedly expressed disappointment that the lack of a clear regulatory framework gives other countries an advantage in developing the blockchain and cryptocurrency infrastructure. Now that Circle is partially inaccessible to US regulators, the company plans to hire 30 employees for 2 years and focus on global markets.

Image courtesy of The block