Payments firm Circle makes ‘marginal’ job cut across markets including Singapore
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Circle Internet Financial’s Singapore entity, Circle Internet Singapore, employs over 30 staff.
PHOTO: CIRCLE INTERNET SINGAPORE
Follow topic:
SINGAPORE - The restructuring at global payments firm and stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Financial has led the company to make a “marginal” cut in jobs across markets, including Singapore.
The group, whose Singapore entity received a licence
The move is part of the group’s wider restructuring announced late on Wednesday, which will have it focus more on Asia – where it employs about 125 people – and new growth areas in Web3.
The group’s Singapore entity, Circle Internet Singapore (Circle Singapore), employs over 30 people.
In a reply to ST, the company said the restructuring was to maintain its strong balance sheet, and it is redoubling its focus on “core business activities”.
“As a result, we have reduced or ended investments in non-core activities and reduced operational expenses, which includes a marginal reduction in headcount. At the same time, we have identified new areas for investment and are continuing to hire in key areas of focus on a global basis,” the group said, without specifying numbers.
Group chief executive and co-founder Jeremy Allaire has said he is bullish about Asia, which is the Boston-based group’s largest market outside the United States.
Besides digital asset security, the group is to remain focused on the stablecoins – USDC and Euro Coin – that it issues. USDC is fully backed by the US dollar, while Euro Coin is fully euro-backed.
Circle Singapore said in early June that it had obtained a major payment institution licence that will also allow it to provide cross-border and domestic money transfer services in Singapore via its products such as the Circle account, which allows institutional customers access to USDC.
Back then, Mr Allaire had said that Singapore is integral to Circle’s global expansion.
The MAS licence follows the company’s in-principle approval received last November. In May, the Singapore office also officially opened.
American firms in the digital asset space have been eyeing Asia as a key growth market as US regulators crack down on the sector and launch lawsuits against prominent names including cryptocurrency exchanges Binance and Coinbase.
