Circle acquires Informal Systems’ Malachite for new blockchain

Published 18/08/2025, 15:38
Circle acquires Informal Systems’ Malachite for new blockchain

TORONTO - Circle Internet Group, Inc. (NYSE:CRCL), a $34.5 billion market cap technology company whose stock has surged 79% over the past six months, has acquired Malachite, a consensus engine developed by Informal Systems, to power its upcoming Arc blockchain network, according to a press release statement issued on August 12. According to InvestingPro analysis, the company currently appears fairly valued based on its Fair Value assessment.

The high-performance Byzantine Fault Tolerant (BFT) consensus engine will serve as the foundation for Arc, Circle’s new Layer-1 blockchain network specifically designed for stablecoin finance. The network is scheduled to launch in testnet later this year.

Malachite implements the Tendermint algorithm with a modular design focused on correctness and efficiency. Following the acquisition, the Malachite repository will remain open source under the Apache 2.0 license.

"This acquisition is a strong validation of Malachite and of our incubation model," said Ethan Buchman, CEO at Informal Systems. "Circle’s adoption of Malachite provides a high-impact use case, a robust financial foundation for future development, and ensures our technology contributes to meaningful, mission-aligned outcomes."

As part of the agreement, several Informal Systems team members will join Circle to support Arc’s development. Informal Systems will continue to support other Malachite use cases and collaborate with industry partners.

Informal Systems, founded by experts in formal methods and distributed systems, will maintain its work with other projects including Cycles, Hydro, and Quint, which was used in Malachite’s development.

Arc is being offered by Circle Technology Services, LLC, which provides software services but not regulated financial or advisory services.

In other recent news, Circle Internet Group announced the pricing of its public offering of 10 million shares of Class A common stock at $130 per share. The offering includes 2 million shares from Circle and 8 million shares from selling stockholders, with an additional option for underwriters to purchase up to 1.5 million shares. Mizuho has reiterated its Underperform rating on Circle Internet Group, maintaining a price target of $84.00. This follows a significant decline in Circle’s stock price since August 11, 2025. In contrast, Bernstein SocGen Group has maintained an Outperform rating on Circle, setting a price target of $230.00. These mixed analyst ratings come after Circle’s first quarterly earnings report since its initial public offering on June 5. The differing perspectives highlight the varied outlooks among analysts regarding Circle’s financial health and future performance.

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