Circle Denounces Fake CircleMetals Tokenized Metals Platform
Circle warns of a fraudulent site promoting tokenized gold and silver trading under its brand, launched during holiday downtime to exploit delayed responses.
Fact Check
The assessment is based on consistent and corroborating evidence from all three provided sources. The primary source, a press release about the launch of CircleMetals, explicitly states that the service offers tokenized metals with liquidity 'backed by deep liquidity sourced from COMEX reference markets.' This directly supports the core claim of the statement. This information is further corroborated by two other sources. A high-authority financial news outlet, Investing.com, syndicated the same press release, lending its credibility to the announcement. Additionally, a news article from Bitget, while less authoritative, independently confirms that CircleMetals is 'backed by COMEX liquidity.' The complete absence of contradictory information across all sources, combined with the direct confirmation from a primary source, provides a high degree of confidence that the statement is true.
Summary
Circle has identified a fraudulent platform named 'Circle Metals' that appeared on Dec. 24, falsely claiming to offer tokenized gold and silver trading under its brand. The scheme emerged during U.S. holiday downtime, potentially aiming to exploit slower reactions from companies. Circle’s spokesperson confirmed to CoinDesk that the website and service are not legitimate and have no connection to Circle. Users are urged to avoid interacting with the site to prevent possible malicious activity.
Terms & Concepts
- USDC: A U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin issued by Circle, used for payments and trading.
- Tokenized gold and silver: Digital tokens purportedly representing ownership of gold or silver, enabling blockchain-based trading.