Blockchain startup Circle's subsidiary CENTRE raises $20M in an ICO under SAFT framework for a platform that aims to connect digital wallets like Alipay, Venmo
A subsidiary of blockchain startup Circle created to build an ethereum payments network has raised $20 million in a Simple Agreement for Future Tokens (SAFT) sale.
Context & Ripple Effects
CENTRE's $20M SAFT sale is one stop in a long financing arc for parent Circle: the company started with a $50M round led by Goldman Sachs in 2015, then raised a $60M series D from IDG and Baidu amid China expansion. Rather than another equity round, its ethereum payments subsidiary is now selling future tokens under the SAFT framework to fund a network meant to bridge closed wallets like Alipay and Venmo.
What makes this data point interesting in hindsight is how Circle kept returning to both instruments: it went public in 2025, pricing an IPO targeting up to $624M that ultimately raised almost $1.1B, and then in 2026 ran an Arc token presale at a $3B valuation backed by a16z and BlackRock. The 2017 SAFT was an early instance of the equity-token alternation that now defines the company's capital structure.
First-order effects
- CENTRE banks $20M earmarked for building an ethereum-based payments network whose stated goal is interoperability between digital wallets such as Alipay and Venmo.
- SAFT purchasers hold claims on future tokens rather than equity in Circle or CENTRE, so the raise funds development without diluting the parent's shareholders.
Second-order effects
- Closed-wallet operators like Alipay and Venmo face a choice between joining a shared settlement layer and defending their walled-garden economics — interoperability threatens the lock-in each wallet monetizes.
- Rival blockchain payment projects must answer the same fundraising question: sell tokens early to bootstrap a network, as CENTRE did, or stay equity-funded and cede speed.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, payment infrastructure firms will keep alternating between public equity markets and private token sales, using each instrument for what it does best — tokens to bootstrap network participation, equity to fund regulated operations.
- SAFT-style pre-network token sales normalize the idea that interoperability layers get financed ahead of any working product, shifting risk onto token buyers and setting the template regulators would eventually have to address.
The trend: Payments networks increasingly fund cross-wallet interoperability by selling future tokens before the network exists, with Circle itself cycling between token raises and public equity across a decade.