Today Circle announced a deal with CryptoKitties creator Dapper Labs, which will allow credit and debit card payments to be converted to the USDC stablecoin. In turn, the USDC will be used for in-game blockchain payments on Dapper Labs Flow network.
We believe Flow will also be used for the NBA Top Shot game, which already has 13,000 users signed up in advance of a beta test.
The deal avoids potential users needing to get their heads around cryptocurrency payments. And it also provides certainly of revenue for Dapper Labs.
“Circle’s payment technology combined with the performance of our new network, Flow, means any developer can build crypto-enabled applications without sacrificing user experience.”
Circle and the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase backed the standards and protocol that underpin the USDC. The digital currency recently hit $2 billion in circulation, four times the balance in March. It’s one of the more respected stablecoins, is redeemable for dollars, and the deposits that back the currency are audited monthly by Grant Thornton, the world’s sixth largest accounting firm. Circle says the regulated stablecoin can be redeemed to bank accounts in more than 80 countries.
Last month Dapper Labs raised $12 million for Flow with USDC backer Coinbase as one of the investors alongside some NBA players, Warner Music and others.
Meanwhile, Circle has raised $270 million in funding to date. It bought cryptocurrency exchange Poloniex for $400 million in early 2018 but offloaded it to Asian investors in late 2019.
