Circle Acquires Malachite to Power Its Upcoming Arc Blockchain

Stablecoin issuer Circle (CRCL) has acquired Malachite, the consensus engine that is set to underpin payments-focused blockchain Arc, from software development firm Informal Systems, according to a Monday press release.

Several people from Informal Systems will join Circle as part of the acquisition. The firms didn’t reveal details about pricing.

The deal comes as Circle, the company behind the $65 billion USDC (USDC) token, announced last week it’s building its own layer-1 blockchain designed for stablecoin finances, a recent trend among asset issuers aiming to capitalize on the booming sector. Stablecoins, a set of cryptocurrencies with prices tied to an external asset like the U.S. dollar, are projected to become a trillion dollar market and disrupt cross-border payments.

Malachite was built around the Tendermint consensus algorithm and was designed for flexibility and correctness in decentralized systems. Informal Systems developed it as a reusable foundation for blockchain infrastructure, with a focus on performance and security.

Malachite will remain open source under the Apache 2.0 license, leaving developers free to use and extend the technology, the press release said. Informal will continue supporting other use cases for Malachite and advance its other projects, including tools for distributed systems and cross-chain infrastructure.