Circle Co-Founder P. Sean Neville Resigns from Board

Circle Internet Group announced on September 25 that co-founder P. Sean Neville has resigned from the board with immediate effect. The move reduces the board from eight members to seven. Neville, who joined in 2016, cited personal reasons for the departure, which the company described as part of an orderly process of board refreshment.

Neither this resignation nor the planned exit of Chief Financial Officer Jeremy Fox-Geen resulted from any disagreement over Circle’s operations, policies or practices. The company provided no details on a replacement director or plans to restore the board to its previous size.

CFO Jeremy Fox-Geen to Step Down by Year-End

Jeremy Fox-Geen, who joined Circle in May 2021, informed the company the same day that he intends to step down as CFO. His final employment date will remain December 31, 2026, or earlier if a successor is named before then. Fox-Geen will continue to oversee the finance organization during the transition period.

Circle has already engaged an executive search firm to identify a replacement for Fox-Geen but has not yet named any candidates or set a target date for filling the role. Until the new CFO is appointed, Fox-Geen will remain in his position to ensure a smooth handover.

Compensation and Transition Arrangements for Fox-Geen

Under the terms disclosed in a Form 8-K filing, Fox-Geen will receive his current annualized base salary of $500,000 throughout the transition. He remains eligible for a 2026 annual incentive award targeted at 110 percent of base pay, with the actual amount depending on performance.

Outstanding equity awards will continue to vest during the transition, and Fox-Geen will stay covered by Circle’s employee benefit plans. Upon his departure, the company will make a one-time cash payment of $1.05 million in equal monthly installments over 12 months, subject to compliance with restrictive covenants and the signing of a release in favor of the company. The agreement also provides for accelerated vesting of restricted stock units equal to two additional months and extends the exercise window on non-qualified stock options by one year.

Share Price Reaction

Circle’s Class A shares closed at $89 on September 25, down from $93 the previous session. After-hours trading saw the stock slip further to around $87.37, a decline of approximately 2.6 percent following the leadership disclosure.

Binance Partnership and Recent Business Wins

Just prior to the announcement, on September 17, Binance invested roughly $100 million in Circle, acquiring about 1.24 million Class A shares at $80.84 each. The deal carries a lock-up period of up to two years and establishes a five-year commercial partnership to promote and integrate USDC on Binance’s platform.

The expanded relationship follows earlier collaboration that began in December 2024. USDC trading volume on Binance has roughly doubled to above $80 billion monthly, with daily volumes reaching $5 billion to $10 billion. Circle’s USDC circulation stands at approximately $74 billion, and the stablecoin continues to expand its footprint through other partnerships, including a three-year extension with Coinbase through 2029.

Operational Milestones

Circle reported revenue and reserve income of $694 million in the first quarter, up 20 percent year-over-year, with USDC circulation at $77 billion and on-chain transaction volume at $21.5 trillion. Second-quarter figures showed $701 million in revenue and reserve income while circulation reached $73.3 billion.

More recently, the company launched Digital Asset-Backed Borrowing, allowing qualifying institutional Circle Mint clients to borrow USDC using Bitcoin-linked collateral on third-party lending markets on Arc or Ethereum.