Chinese search engine Baidu has entered the financial revolution that is FinTech for the first time with an investment in an American Blockchain company.
Circle Internet Financial Inc. was founded in 2013 by Jeremy Allaire and Sean Neville in Boston, Massachusetts and has an international operations headquarters in Dublin, Ireland.
The Bitcoin startup announced it had raised $60 million in funding from a consortium which was led by IDG , an American based media, data and marketing services and venture capital organization.
Participants included Baidu, Breyer Capital , General Catalyst Partners, CICC Alpha, China Everbright Investment and Assets Management, IBM’s former chairman and CEO Sam Palmisano, and Silver Lake’s co-founder Glenn Hutchins.
Peter Fang , executive director of Baidu corporate development, says: “Circle is one of the most impressive startups in the blockchain technology space. Together with other influential investors, Baidu is very excited to partner with Circle team to build its vision successfully and globally.” Global payments network
Circle’s news of entering the Chinese P2P payment market with Bitcoin and allowing users to realize the potential of rapid transfers with their friends was simultaneously announced with the partnership of Goldman Sachs and Barclays, which was the first time a European bank has allowed a digital currency company to use its infrastructure enabling it to transfer sterling, euro and dollars.
The company co-founders Sean Neville and Jeremy Allaire noted that the company is building a global payments network that will soon enable users in the U.S., Europe and China to exchange value seamlessly and nearly instantly.
This enables users of their payment app to exchange sterling, renminbi, euro and dollars instantly and free by converting the fiat to Bitcoin and moving them across the Blockchain where transactions are verified and recorded.Neville and Allaire say: “We want to connect consumers using dollars, pounds, euro […]
