Circle (USDC) Ventures has invested an undisclosed amount in edgeX, a decentralized perpetual futures exchange, with plans to deploy native USDC and Circle's Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol on the project's EDGE Chain.
The deal was completed last month, with Circle acting as the sole investor in the round, edgeX co-founder Kevin Wang told The Block on Tuesday.
The investment arrives as edgeX prepares for a token generation event targeted before March 31.
What Happened
Wang declined to disclose the investment size, structure, valuation, or whether Circle received a board seat. A Circle spokesperson separately confirmed the deal and the planned USDC integration but offered no additional details.
edgeX was founded in March 2024 and launched its testnet and V1 in August of that year. The project was incubated by Amber Group, which led an earlier pre-seed round in December 2024. The size of that round was also not disclosed.
The platform operates a decentralized perpetual futures exchange across web and mobile. According to edgeX's own metrics, it serves more than 295,000 users and processes roughly $5 billion in daily trading volume, with about $1 billion in open interest.
Independent data from DefiLlama shows annualized fees of approximately $387.5 million and open interest near $927 million.
edgeX ranked third among perpetual DEXs by recent 24-hour volume, behind Hyperliquid (HYPE). Its Q4 2025 revenue of $106.9 million nearly doubled the prior quarter, per Block Research.
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Why It Matters
Bringing native USDC and CCTP to EDGE Chain would allow stablecoin-based settlement without relying on bridged or wrapped tokens.
For Circle, it extends USDC's footprint onto yet another chain as the issuer aggressively expands infrastructure. USDC's market capitalization currently exceeds $70 billion.
For edgeX, Circle's backing adds credibility ahead of a token launch that will distribute 1 billion EDGE tokens across community airdrops, core contributors, and a foundation allocation.
What's Missing
Neither side disclosed deal financials, and Wang declined to share the valuation - a notable omission given the token launch timeline. The self-reported $5 billion daily volume figure is difficult to independently verify at a granular level, though DefiLlama fee data suggests substantial real activity.
The perpetual DEX market has grown rapidly, processing over $7 trillion in volume through late 2025, per The Block Research.
But competition is fierce, and TVL swings have been sharp - edgeX's own TVL peaked near $500 million in November before falling to roughly $356 million by early 2026.
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