Circle Denounces 'Fake' Platform Offering Tokenized Precious Metals

A purported press release circulated on December 24 announced the launch of CircleMetals, a platform allegedly enabling users to trade tokenized gold and silver, but Circle has confirmed this to be false. The release, which utilized Circle's branding and quoted executives including CEO Jeremy Allaire, described a service facilitating 24/7 swaps between the USDC stablecoin and supposed gold and silver tokens backed by COMEX-linked liquidity. Users were incentivized to participate with a 1.25% reward in $CIRM tokens, although the legitimacy of these tokens could not be verified. The website associated with the release has since been removed, and Circle has cautioned users to exercise vigilance and verify the authenticity of requests, particularly those requiring wallet connections. The press release was distributed via crypto-focused PR channels and included links to a swap platform, but its legitimacy was quickly disputed, and it was taken down following compliance checks.