Company: CRCL
Filing Date: 2025-04-18
Form Type: S-1/A
Source: 0001193125-25-084832
Chunk: 217

Company: Circle Internet Group, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-04-18
Form: S-1/A
Chunk 217
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 accounts at U.S. state or federally chartered depository institutions, and (v) reserves must be attested to monthly and annually by a certified public accountant. In addition, regulations governing the
BitLicense as well as regulations governing our Virtual Currency License prohibit us from lending, pledging, rehypothecating, or otherwise encumbering reserve assets. Other jurisdictions are expected to require similar licenses. For example,
California’s Digital Financial Assets law will require persons engaging in digital asset business activities to obtain a license from the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation when the law comes into effect on
July 1, 2026.

While our MTLs and money services business registration status subject us to regulations that govern material aspects of our business—for
example, how we commercialize Circle stablecoins, onboard customers, and maintain adequate reserves to fully back Circle stablecoins—such regulation is not equivalent to the type of prudential regulation and supervision that applies to
regulated banks, such as under the Federal Deposit Insurance Act, National Bank Act, Bank Holding Company Act, and Federal Reserve Act, which include prudential supervision by regulators, minimum capital requirements, and specified prohibited
activities.

153

Commodities and derivatives laws

The CFTC has stated in guidance and before Congress, and federal case law relating to CFTC enforcement actions have supported, that at least some digital assets,
including Bitcoin, Ether, and certain stablecoins, fall within the definition of “commodity” under the Commodity Exchange Act (the “CEA”) and the regulations of the CFTC thereunder. In particular, on October 12, 2023, the
CFTC expressly stated in a complaint against a third party that USDC is a “commodity” as defined in the CEA and indicated that futures, options, and swap contracts relating to USDC are squarely within the CFTC’s jurisdiction. The CFTC
has regulatory and supervisory authority with respect to so-called “commodity interest” transactions—namely, futures, options, swaps, other derivative products, and certain retail leveraged
commodity transactions—involving digital assets that are non-security commodities, including the markets on which these products trade. The CFTC also has regulatory and supervisory authority over
leveraged retail commodity transactions. In addition, the CFTC retains enforcement authority to police against fraud and manipulation in spot (i.e., cash) non-security commodity markets, including spot markets
for digital asset commodities such