Bringing Crypto to the World with Circle
In today's episode, we catch up with Marieke Flament, Chief Marketing Officer of Circle, one of the most noteworthy crytpo companies.
Circle was the first company to receive a BitLicense from the State of New York and the first virtual currency business to receive an e-money license from the British government.
Circle has raised over over $246 million since 2013, including a $50 million round led by Goldman Sachs.
Earlier this year, Circle acquired crypto exchange Poloniex for $400 million, with leaked documents suggesting an aspiration to make Poloniex America's first regulated crypto exchange.
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Thank you very much for joining us today. Please welcome, Marieke Flament.
Will:
You're the Managing Director for Europe and the Global Chief Marketing Officer for Circle, right? Tell us a bit about Circle.
Marieke:
Circle is a crypto finance company, and we believe in the tokenization of everything. We believe that every asset, every contract, every form of art—as it exists today—will eventually be tokenized on the blockchain.
Our mission is to build products that help bring that vision to life.
We currently offer several products that range from consumer-focused to institutional-grade.
On the consumer side, we have Circle Pay, which allows users to send and receive money as easily as sending an email or SMS.
Our second consumer product is Circle Invest. The goal of that platform is to make crypto more accessible—particularly for people who may not know much about crypto, but have heard of it and are interested in getting started. It's designed to help them take their first steps into the space.
At the other end of the spectrum is Circle Trade, one of the largest crypto trading desks in the world. It primarily serves large financial institutions, family offices, hedge funds, and exchanges, helping them liquidate between crypto and fiat currencies.
In the middle, we have Poloniex, a crypto exchange we recently acquired. It functions as a full-featured trading platform within our ecosystem.
Will:
Wow. Alright. Lots to dig into. This is great.
So, I’m interested—I guess maybe just to start—picking up on what you said early on about how Circle's premise is that everything will eventually be tokenized and tradable via blockchain.
Can you expand on that a little bit? Because, basically, the initial arrival of all things crypto was Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, and they had this "currency" label associated with them—which may or may not have been appropriate.
Then we’ve seen extensions of that same concept applied to things like jewelry, art, as you mentioned.
How far do you think this is likely to go? How quickly? And where do you see the main relevance of this technology and this ecosystem over the next few years?
Marieke:
Yeah, what we’re seeing—you’re right—is that cryptocurrency started with Bitcoin, which has its own limitations. So, other projects began to emerge, and one of the most well-known was Ethereum.
What’s unique about Ethereum is that you can code smart contracts on it—so you can basically program anything from “you own this flat” to “you own a car,” or even “you voted for something.” That’s when smart contracts really started to take off.
From there, we saw the emergence of what we now call security tokens, and with that, the rise of ICOs—Initial Coin Offerings. So, there’s definitely been a whole layer of projects that have evolved—and they continue to evolve. Every week, a new project launches. Every week, there’s fresh innovation.
There are thousands of people trying to figure out what this new distributed, decentralized technology means and what’s possible with it.
So, in short, yes—there are a lot of different projects, coins, and things being built. And if you look ahead—though it might sound a bit idealistic, like “la-la land”—the reality is, we could theoretically put a lot of what we do today on the blockchain.
Let’s take a concrete example: I buy a flat. That transaction involves a contract between me and the landlord, and it’s registered with the state. That entire process could be handled on a blockchain, with fewer intermediaries, faster execution, and lower cost.
Can we fully do that today? Not yet. But the technology enables us to do it—and even more.
Let’s say you own some luxury goods—you could register those on a blockchain too. There are already projects that track diamonds from their origin all the way through to the final piece of jewelry and where it ends up. So that’s all possible, and we’re starting to see more projects go in that direction.
What’s still missing is the individual experience. What does this mean for everyday people?
What we believe at Circle is that this technology fundamentally changes how you manage your assets—and even what banking looks like. The future bank might not just be a digital version of today’s bank. It might be something entirely different, built around this new paradigm.
Will:
Circle’s premise is that, in the long term, everything will be tokenized. But at the moment, your focus seems to be on more “traditional” crypto assets—currency equivalents like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, and presumably a few others.
Marieke:
We do trade, yes—but it depends on the product. For example, on Circle Invest, we offer access to the top seven most-traded cryptocurrencies, such as those built on Ethereum. And we carefully consider: are these currencies or assets? What do they represent?
On Poloniex, you’ll find hundreds of different tokens being actively traded. The same goes for Circle Trade, where we support trading of 15 to 20 different assets. Each project is unique, so we’ve developed an internal token framework to help us evaluate them—who’s behind each project, what it’s aiming to accomplish, and how it's contributing value to the broader ecosystem.
We try to remain as agnostic as possible, identifying the projects that are genuinely meaningful.
So yes, today our focus is largely on token trading—enabling the exchange of and investment in these digital assets. But in the short term, we're also looking at how we can help businesses create their own tokens.
Imagine a business coming to one of our platforms and using our tools to issue its own token—something it can then circulate or trade within its ecosystem. That’s where we’re headed.
Will:
It sounds like one of the four core areas of your business right now is OTC trading—essentially working with institutional investors looking to move large amounts of crypto to fiat, or vice versa.
From your experience, what does institutional interest in crypto look like today? We've seen a wave of headlines recently—ICE launched the Bakkt proposition, and Coinbase introduced an institutional custody offering, which some are calling the “missing link” for deeper institutional involvement in the space.
What’s your take on institutional appetite at the moment?
Marieke:
The institutional appetite is definitely growing. It spans not only large financial institutions but also family offices and hedge funds that have traditionally focused on more classical assets. These firms are now starting to view crypto as a new asset class.
On your second point—custody—you’re absolutely right. One of the main challenges across the entire industry is how to keep these assets secure. There are different ways of doing that: you can use cold storage or hot storage, but figuring out the right custody solutions is critical for institutions to feel comfortable.
Another important component is regulation. For large financial institutions to get involved, there needs to be a clear regulatory framework so they understand what they’re trading and how it’s governed.
And for firms like Circle, compliance is essential. That means every new institution that wants to onboard Circle Trade must pass KYC and AML checks—we verify where their funds are coming from, what the source of funds is, and we perform our full due diligence on those customers.
All of that is necessary to bring more traditional financial institutions into the space—and we’re definitely seeing that happen more and more.
Will:
It sounds like due diligence and KYC/AML compliance are among Circle's strong suits—especially compared to some of the less reputable players in the crypto space. In fact, it seems like you're on good terms with national regulators.
What has your experience been like in that area? Do you have regular dialogues or interactions with regulators—like the SEC in the U.S. or the FCA in the U.K.?
Marieke:
Yeah, we’re very actively engaged—because we believe the technologies we work with are complex. Even for people in the space, things evolve incredibly quickly. There are a lot of new mental models, and many people are still trying to figure them out.
Part of our role is to help educate and collaborate with regulators to shape the right frameworks. We believe regulation is critically important. It exists to protect consumers, and we fully support that. That’s why we’re deeply involved in these ongoing conversations.
We also participate in working groups like GDF—Global Digital Finance—which was started here in the U.K. They’re working collaboratively to help define the taxonomy of crypto, determine how these assets and services should be regulated, and provide education and structure from within the industry itself.
It’s critical, in our view. As an industry, especially one that's so innovative, we have a duty to work hand-in-hand with regulators.
Will:
I’m curious—what does your day-to-day look like as the Managing Director for Europe? What does that role actually involve?
Marieke:
It means traveling a lot across Europe. I was actually in Dublin yesterday and the day before.
Right now, we have about 60 people at Circle in Europe—25 in London, 30 in Ireland, and then small offices in France and Italy. From those locations, we also oversee activity in Switzerland and Germany.
Those offices are focused on go-to-market strategy—so we look at how to bring Circle’s products to each region effectively. A big part of that involves regulation, lobbying, and working with governments, especially because crypto regulation in Europe isn’t fully defined yet.
For example, the FCA in the U.K. has its own view on crypto, but in countries like France and others across the continent, there’s still no unified regulatory framework. That presents an opportunity—to help shape how Europe approaches crypto regulation going forward.
Our Ireland offices are more operations-focused. They support all the go-to-market work we’re doing across the region.
Will:
Roughly what percentage of Circle’s global team would you say are technologists, compared to those in business, operations, or compliance roles?
Marieke:
Yeah, it’s a large portion—over 70% of our team is in technology. That includes backend and frontend engineers, and we consider those roles core to the business.
In fact, every risk and operational process we look at is approached from a technical perspective. Circle is, first and foremost, a technology and engineering company. Everything else—like marketing and other functions—builds on top of that foundation.
Our strongest layer is definitely our engineering team.
Will:
One of the other topics I wanted to touch on with you is diversity in the crypto space—specifically, the underrepresentation of women. It seems like there’s still a significant gender gap in the industry.
I’d be really interested to hear your perspective on that.
Marieke:
Yeah, it’s tough. I think part of it is that crypto is still extremely technical—and bringing it into the mainstream is something I see as a personal mission. Making crypto mainstream means making it understandable and accessible to everyone, so it becomes part of people’s daily lives.
But we’re not there yet. Right now, the space can still be quite intimidating—especially for women. Even once you're in, it's very technical, very geeky. I’m a computer science engineer by background, and even I find it overwhelming at times with everything that’s constantly evolving.
So it’s not just hard to attract women into the space—it’s also hard to retain them.
At Circle, we were the first FinTech to sign the Women in Finance Charter, which was launched by the U.K. government. I think it’s a brilliant initiative. It’s simple but powerful—it encourages companies to commit to having a certain level of female representation, not just within the company but also at the board level.
It forces companies—including ours—to hold ourselves accountable. Otherwise, things can become cliquey very quickly, and we risk repeating the same issues we’ve seen in traditional banking and in the tech world.
And when you layer blockchain on top of FinTech, diversity becomes even harder to achieve.
But the products we’re building are for everyone. And if we don’t include women—or people from diverse backgrounds, cultures, and religions—in the conversation, we’re not going to build inclusive products. It’s that simple.
For example, our head of Circle Invest is an amazing woman based in New York. That product is designed to help make crypto mainstream, and it’s incredible to have someone like her leading that initiative.
So yeah, it’s an ongoing challenge—but it’s also something we think about and work on every single day.
Will:
It sounds like there are three core components to the business: one is the payments piece, one is the consumer crypto investment offering, and one is the institutional investment side.
Which of those three do you see as being the most likely driver of Circle’s growth going forward?
Marieke:
Great question—and I think that’s actually a good way to frame it.
I think it’s going to be the consumer crypto side that drives the most growth, although it will take time. Today, what we’re seeing in crypto is still relatively niche. Most of the activity comes from day traders, what we call “whales,” or institutions. It’s still a small market in the grand scheme of things.
The real growth will come when we can reach mainstream consumers—when people start engaging with real-world applications in their day-to-day lives. And that will only happen when the experience becomes seamless, to the point where users don’t even need to know they’re using blockchain technology.
It’s like email: I send you an email, but I don’t know what SMTP is—and I don’t need to. It just works.
Once we reach that level of simplicity, that’s when we’ll see true mainstream adoption. And that’s definitely the direction we’re heading in: building real, mainstream consumer applications. Because in terms of volume and user growth, that’s where the future lies.
Will:
So does that mean more 2017-style crypto speculation? Or is it more like your SMTP analogy—where everyone just uses email because it’s a natural way to communicate, and they don’t need to know there’s a utility token powering it behind the scenes?
Marieke:
Yeah, I think it’s more the latter. The speculative side of crypto isn’t really helpful—and in some cases, it’s actually been harmful. A lot of low-quality projects have turned out to be fraudulent, and that’s damaged trust.
It reminds me a bit of the dot-com bubble—where everyone thought they could buy a dog online, and two years later… turns out, no, you couldn’t. But it was part of the innovation curve we had to go through.
I think crypto is going through a similar phase. Over time, that speculative focus will shift, and the space will mature into something more useful and lasting.
Will:
Yeah. So I guess that means we’ll see fewer consumers going directly to exchanges and buying tokens—like they might buy equities today—and more of an automated, behind-the-scenes model, where the tokens are just used to power whatever service they're interacting with?
Marieke:
Exactly.
Let’s say you want to interact with your favorite pizza shop. That might be powered by blockchain on the back end—but you wouldn’t necessarily see or think about that.
Or imagine sending a gift to a friend far away. Maybe it’s a piece of digital art that they really love. You could send it over the blockchain without needing to understand how it works.
If you want to hold all your assets in one place, you could do that too.
But the key is: users won’t need to know they’re using blockchain. They’ll just be able to send and receive things seamlessly—just like sending an email.
Will:
So would you say there's a possibility that Circle—and companies like it, which are currently focused on direct consumer access—could, in the long run, become backend infrastructure providers?
To use your example: maybe the consumer-facing experience happens on something like Facebook, but Circle is what powers the transaction behind the scenes?
Marieke:
Yeah, I think that’s a great question—because one of the things we’re definitely seeing is that the infrastructure is still missing.
One project we haven’t talked about yet is Centre, a foundation we created to help develop the framework for issuing stablecoins. That’s actually a foundational layer for the entire crypto ecosystem.
So yes, in many ways, we’re building infrastructure. It’s like if we were creating HTTP—so the internet could exist—and then on top of that, you’d get Google, Amazon, and everything else.
It’s difficult to predict exactly how things will play out, but I think we’re moving toward a world where decentralized applications become the norm. Some of those applications might plug into the ecosystem Circle has built. Maybe we’ll provide the wallets or the infrastructure where those assets can be exchanged—and maybe we’ll build some of those applications ourselves.
Will:
So I have to ask this—just because it's timely and interesting. Goldman Sachs is an investor in Circle, and I think one of their analysts recently put out a report suggesting that Bitcoin is heading down and likely won’t recover.
What’s your view on that?
Marieke:
I’d love to have a crystal ball to see where it’s all going. The truth is, it’s incredibly hard to predict.
Who knows? There are opposite views—some people think Bitcoin could become the global currency of the future.
I don’t know. We should probably have this conversation again in a year or two to see where things land.
What I do think is that we’ll see more and more tokens and crypto assets emerge. Will one of them dominate? Maybe. But it’s also very possible—and maybe even likely—that we end up with thousands of different tokens tied to small, medium, and large economies all over the world.
Personally, I think it’ll be more the latter.
Will:
You mentioned Centre earlier—yes, that was a foundation, right?
Beyond Centre, is there other B2B or infrastructure-focused work you’re doing?
Marieke:
So actually, as part of Centre, Circle is launching the stablecoin USDC.
That’s a fiat-linked coin—basically, instead of holding U.S. dollars, you hold a crypto version of the dollar: USDC. It’s backed 1:1 with U.S. dollars. So for every USDC token in circulation, there’s a U.S. dollar sitting in a segregated bank account. It’s audited, which provides transparency and traceability.
This matters a lot for the crypto ecosystem. If you go back to Bitcoin—if I want to buy a coffee with Bitcoin today, maybe it costs $2, but tomorrow it might cost $5. It’s just too volatile.
(Remember the guy who bought a pizza for 10,000 Bitcoin? Yeah.)
That kind of volatility makes it difficult to use as a payment method. What the ecosystem needs is stability. And that stability has to be delivered in a way that’s transparent, auditable, and trustworthy.
That’s what we’re working on with USDC.
Will:
The crypto space is in an interesting place right now—maybe even more so earlier this year than today.
You have people who, through a bit of serendipity, became massively wealthy—at least on paper. And it reminds me of Silicon Valley in the early days. You had this first generation of successful founders who reinvested in the local ecosystem. They seeded companies, made money, exited, and repeated the cycle.
It feels like we’re seeing the same thing in crypto.
At the same time, though, that suggests that a small group of people might now hold outsized influence, simply because they were early in Bitcoin.
What’s your take? Does it feel sustainable? Do you think influence in the crypto ecosystem is in the right hands?
Marieke:
I think it’s really shaken up a lot of the traditional world—and you’re right.
If you look at the data, I believe around $15 billion has been raised through ICOs to date. That’s a huge amount of money. And yes, a lot of that is being reinvested into new projects and experiments in the space.
You have this wave of new people who got in early, saw the opportunity, and now they’re becoming the first generation of founders for the next wave of crypto companies.
It’s also fascinating to look at this geographically. Asia is absolutely at the forefront in many ways. In Europe, I’d say we’re somewhere in between—between the U.S., which has a lot of activity, and Asia, where there’s an enormous volume of crypto projects happening.
So yes, I think this could genuinely change the global economic structure. It has the potential to rebalance the dynamics we’ve seen over the past 20, 30, even 40 years.
Will:
I guess from the perspective of both incumbent financial services firms and regulators—what’s the right balance between regulation and innovation?
How do we promote innovation while still ensuring consumer protection, which, as you said earlier, is fundamental to all of this?
Marieke:
Yeah, I think the first key point is that we shouldn't be regulating the technology itself—we should be regulating the services built on top of it.
That’s a fundamental distinction we've been advocating for. So, for example, it's not about regulating Ethereum as a base layer. It’s about regulating the different applications that exist on Ethereum, and the services that are built around it.
Take Circle, for instance: if we're operating an exchange, or if we have an app where users can send and receive value, then that service should be regulated—not the underlying blockchain protocol.
And actually, I don’t think we need to reinvent regulation. We already have existing regulatory frameworks and consumer protection laws. It’s more a matter of figuring out how these new types of services fit into those existing categories—and ensuring they’re applied appropriately.
Will:
Before we go, can you tell people where they can find out more about Circle—and how they can connect with or follow you?
Marieke:
Absolutely. You can learn more about us at circle.com, where you’ll find our full suite of products.
We’re also active on LinkedIn and Twitter—so those are great places to follow what we’re working on and stay connected.
Will:
Excellent. Marieke Flament, thank you very much for joining us today.
