A few years back Circle was the darling of the crypto world, with its clean interface and smooth, un-Coinbase-like onboarding process. Then, in late 2016, the Goldman Sachs-funded Circle announced it was closing its cryptocurrency exchange (directing users to Coinbase) to focus on P2P payments.

All was quiet for Circle, except for a few snarls now and then on Reddit. it might as well have been Buttercoin for all crypto users cared. But that changed yesterday with Circle’s (surprising?) purchase of the crypto exchange Poloniex for a cool $400 million. An it turns out Circle hasn’t been away from crypto assets at all, operating Circle Trade, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency trading desks with over $2 billion traded monthly. Forbes notes:

With the expansion, Circle is laying the groundwork for a day when cryptocurrencies become pervasive, prices grow less volatile, and the utility of digital tokens goes undisputed. If most of the dozens of exchanges competing today are just places to buy and sell coins, Circle has loftier ambitions: It wants to eventually help consumers turn their trading profits into a Tesla, a mortgage, or a portfolio of blue chips. Circle has ample funds, mainstream investors, sophisticated tech, a new network of customers annexed from Poloniex—and, with some luck, a legitimate chance at building the bank of the next century around crypto-finance.

The Poloniex purchase looks more like acquiring a rival than returning to a space it left. With it Circle will launch Circle Invest, according to CoinTelegraph . A waitlist is posted on Circle’s site for the product with the following language:

Be one of the first to try our new digital investment product, coming in 2018.

• No commissions

• Custodial account

• Unparalleled liquidity

• Variety of coins

• Secure storage

Years ago Circle referred its customers to Coinbase when it moved away from retail bitcoin trading. Now it appears to want to take those customers back, and then some.

Read more at CoinTelegraph and Forbes.

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