ChinaVirtuoso

Chinese search engine Baidu.com has made a fintech investment in an American blockchain company.

U.S. Bitcoin start-up Circle Internet Financial announced that they gained USD60 million funding from a consortium, which was led by IDG and participants included Breyer Capital, General Catalyst Partners, Baidu, CICC Alpha, China Everbright Investment and Assets Management, IBM's former chairman and CEO Sam Palmisano, and Silver Lake's co-founder Glenn Hutchins.

Circle was jointly founded by Jeremy Allaire and Sean Neville in Boston in 2013. The company uses blockchain technology to optimize consumer payment methods. Circle's co-founders hope to enter the P2P payment market with Bitcoin and allow users to realize rapid transfers with their friends.

At the end of 2014, Circle launched its first app and the company gained its first digital currency license BitLicense in September. In April 2016, Circle gained the first electronic currency license issued by the British government.


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