March 27, 2025 — Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), has entered into a strategic agreement with Circle Internet Financial to evaluate the use of USDC and USYC in traditional financial infrastructure.
The collaboration aims to assess how Circle’s digital assets — including the widely adopted USDC stablecoin and the newly introduced USYC, a tokenized money market fund — could be integrated into ICE’s suite of services. These include derivatives exchanges, clearinghouses, and market data products.
The initiative marks a significant move toward bridging decentralized finance (DeFi) and traditional finance (TradFi), signaling increasing institutional interest in the use of blockchain-based instruments.
“We believe Circle’s stablecoins and tokenized digital currencies can play a larger role in capital markets,” said Lynn Martin, president of the NYSE.
USDC, the second-largest stablecoin by market capitalization, is fully backed by U.S. government securities and cash-equivalent reserves, maintaining a 1:1 peg to the U.S. dollar. With its high liquidity and regulatory transparency, USDC has become a cornerstone for both DeFi applications and enterprise-grade financial products.
Meanwhile, USYC, a tokenized money market fund issued by Hashnote — a company recently acquired by Circle — represents Circle’s broader ambition to expand into tokenized finance. This product is designed to provide investors with exposure to U.S. Treasury-backed instruments in a digital format.
ICE and Circle plan to jointly explore use cases, product innovation, and potential regulatory frameworks to ensure compliance and sustainability before rolling out any new offerings.
The partnership is part of a growing trend among major financial institutions to integrate blockchain technologies. Other prominent players such as Fidelity and CME Group have also initiated projects centered on stablecoins and tokenized assets.
Circle highlighted the significance of the agreement in a statement on X:
“Stablecoins are officially entering the next chapter in TradFi.”
As the digital asset ecosystem matures, collaborations like the ICE-Circle agreement underscore the potential of tokenized finance to enhance efficiency, transparency, and accessibility in global capital markets.
