Circle is buying Poloniex

[alyssa85]

according to the following article:

https://fortune.com/2018/02/26/circle-cryptocurrency-trade-bitcoin/

On Monday Circle will announce, as Fortune can confirm for the first time, that it has bought Poloniex, one of the world’s most active cryptocurrency exchanges. A person familiar with the terms of the deal who was not authorized to speak about it tells Fortune that the price tag comes in around $400 million.

The acquisition will instantly make Circle a rising threat to Coinbase, the biggest cryptocurrency exchange in the U.S., as well as Bittrex and Kraken, the runner-ups. Counting contributions from Poloniex, Circle’s revenues over the past three months, excluding February, exceeded $250 million, placing the company on an annual run rate greater than $1 billion. Not bad for a 5-year-old upstart.

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.

I had a look on Poloniex's website, but there was no announcement - but perhaps they haven't yet woken up in that part of the world.

[alyssa85]

OK, Poloniex has now woken up and released a press release:

https://poloniex.com/press-releases/2018.02.26-Poloniex-joins-Circle/

We are excited to announce that as of today, February 26, Poloniex will be joining the Circle team and building on our foundations to further scale our platform, grow our global reach, and accelerate the token ecosystem in the months and years ahead.

What happens next?

We're looking forward to joining forces with Circle, and would like to take this opportunity to reassure the Poloniex community that we remain committed to preserving the features and functionality that first drew interest to our platform. Any updates we make in the course of this transition will be behind-the-scenes and focused on strengthening user experience, platform performance, and security. Your funds will remain safe and access to account functionality uninterrupted throughout.

Circle will immediately begin working alongside the Poloniex team to address customer support and expand operations so that we can continue to scale effectively going forward. We recognize that our extraordinary growth these past few years has not come without some growing pains for our users. We look forward to bringing Circle's experience to increase the scalability and reliability of our platform and operations. User experience is paramount. If we aspire to build a token marketplace that will change the fundamentals of global value exchange, we cannot settle for anything less than excellence in our product.

Looking to the future, we are excited to work with Circle to localize our product in more geographies, to explore options for fiat connectivity across major world currencies, and to continue providing our users with access to innovative token projects that extend cryptocurrency protocols to new use cases. Participating in this evolving industry has been an incredible adventure that we've shared with our users, and times are only getting more exciting. Please take a look at this blog post from the Circle team for more thoughts on the acquisition and what lies ahead.

[GrassBite]

Funny story, I sold all my ______ currency on Poloniex last week for bitcoin.  Transferred the bitcoin to another exchange.  Poloniex kept showing I still had the _____ currency, but it wouldn't let me sell it. So, today, I finally took a shot and transferred the ____ to another exchange.

It worked!  No idea how it happened, but they definitely need better accounting.

[yefi]

Let's hope Circle improves things. Might actually use Polo again if they do.

[Wind_FURY]

Let's hope Circle improves things. Might actually use Polo again if they do.

They might. This Circle presentation says that they will be bringing in 80 - 100 personnel.



What I like most about it is Circle will make Poloniex the first legal "crypto exchange" that would enable it to legally list tokens that are classified as "securities" by the SEC.

Prepare for the emergence of the next great exchange in Bitcoin land.

[timerland]

Let's hope Circle improves things. Might actually use Polo again if they do.

They might. This Circle presentation says that they will be bringing in 80 - 100 personnel.



What I like most about it is Circle will make Poloniex the first legal "crypto exchange" that would enable it to legally list tokens that are classified as "securities" by the SEC.

Prepare for the emergence of the next great exchange in Bitcoin land.

I hope they do as well. I mean things probably can't get any worse than it is right now, though, can it?

The extra 80-100 personnel that they are promising is going to be huge for poloniex's future development if they do want to get any better in their business. Their primary concern is around their support right now.

And it wouldn't be a surprise if Circle does attempt to enter the fiat side of the crypto business with fiat deposits and withdrawals. Also expect it to become a more regulated exchange with more features for the verified users, legacy accounts are probably going to be gone completely. Big changes ahead for polo and it can really go either way from this point.

[alyssa85]

Let's hope Circle improves things. Might actually use Polo again if they do.

They might. This Circle presentation says that they will be bringing in 80 - 100 personnel.



What I like most about it is Circle will make Poloniex the first legal "crypto exchange" that would enable it to legally list tokens that are classified as "securities" by the SEC.

Prepare for the emergence of the next great exchange in Bitcoin land.

The SEC element explains why Poloniex wants existing legacy members to do a full KYC to continue trading after the first quarter.

[peter0425]

Let's hope Circle improves things. Might actually use Polo again if they do.

They might. This Circle presentation says that they will be bringing in 80 - 100 personnel.



What I like most about it is Circle will make Poloniex the first legal "crypto exchange" that would enable it to legally list tokens that are classified as "securities" by the SEC.

Prepare for the emergence of the next great exchange in Bitcoin land.

The SEC element explains why Poloniex wants existing legacy members to do a full KYC to continue trading after the first quarter.

Good point. I think it will be a requirement for new members as well. Just like you guys, new personnel coming in will be breath of fresh air and do hope that they will improved their services.

Yeah, definitely can go either way and this will be like a trading platform 2.0. They will be like starting a new revolution and it will change the landscape if they integrate fiat/crypto into once exchange. Let's see how it goes though. There's a lot of things to improved in Poloniex right now and they come in at the right time before Poloniex sunk deeper because of their bad customer support.

[gentlemand]

Big changes ahead for polo and it can really go either way from this point.

The only way is up.

I really wonder what Poloniex has to offer that Circle wanted. Circle already had a certain level of awareness that they could've expanded hugely without this acquisition. By this point in time many a user is actively hostile to Poloniex due to their mediocre support.

Sure, they have plenty of users but it's still early enough to build a monster from scratch without any baggage. I think the average user would actively prefer it.

When Circle were buying and selling BTC it was completely painless. The one time I did have an issue with phone verification I got an email and a solution from a real person within a few minutes.

[exstasie]

Big changes ahead for polo and it can really go either way from this point.

The only way is up.

It's surprising to see so many people who disagree. I think many people don't understand the gravity of what's happening. Goldman Sachs is heavily invested in Circle. Circle is a regulator's golden boy, down to the BitLicense.

Wall Street is investing in shitcoin exchanges now. Pinch yourself, this is not a dream!

Poloniex is going to be the most legitimate, regulated broker for tokens. They're registering with the SEC, with FINRA, and are going beyond money transmitter licenses. It's where serious altcoin/token investors in the US are going to go.

I really wonder what Poloniex has to offer that Circle wanted.

Market share. Same reason that Bank of America is patenting a cryptocurrency exchange system. What makes Poloniex so valuable is the quid quo pro with the SEC:

Here's a slide from a Circle presentation that was leaked this morning. Check out the second section in particular:


Basically, Circle told the SEC that they would turn Poloniex into a fully registered/licensed broker-dealer. In return, the SEC said they wouldn't pursue enforcement actions for any past behavior. Pretty sweet deal.

The SEC is establishing the "good actors" in the space. Poloniex is now a "good actor."

I hate to say it, but we're probably going to see some regulatory actions against the "bad actors" later this year.....

[gentlemand]

Market share. Same reason that Bank of America is patenting a cryptocurrency exchange system. What makes Poloniex so valuable is the quid quo pro with the SEC:

I reckon if Circle released a fully self branded altcoin exchange with all the plans they have for Poloniex tomorrow it would demolish most of the market shares out there.

Poloniex is widely despised these days and it's lost a lot of ground to places like Binance. It's old hat and not trusted in the way other places are, not because of dishonesty, just general catatonia. It will of course come back with this injection but Circle could've made a bigger splash and wound up with more custom with a fresh start.

But they'll know plenty more than I ever will about that type of thing.

[Paractor]

But nobody is bothered that circle was purchased by Goldman sachs?
Meaning they own circle which now owns poloniex.

I would be worried to be using them from now on knowing this because if it fails they wouldn't give a heck about saving it.

Just another company they can write off and cut their losses on when the time is right.

[gentlemand]

But nobody is bothered that circle was purchased by Goldman sachs?
Meaning they own circle which now owns poloniex.

I would be worried to be using them from now on knowing this because if it fails they wouldn't give a heck about saving it.

Just another company they can write off and cut their losses on when the time is right.

Circle has always been the creature of trad banking.

And you're more worried about one of the world's most well capitalised operations versus the bunch of floppy haired mystery men who currently run it?

If it makes money then they'll keep it going and a significant exchange is a money printing machine.