Circle flags fake CircleMetals launch as holiday scam
Circle moved on Christmas Eve to distance itself from a supposed precious metals tokenization service called CircleMetals, after a fake press release claimed the USDC issuer had launched a new platform for gold and silver swaps. In comments relayed to CoinDesk and republished by outlets such as Yahoo Finance, a Circle spokesperson called the release “fake” and denied any involvement with the project.
The company followed up with a holiday warning on X, telling users to treat unsolicited product pitches with suspicion. In the hours around the clarification, USDC traded normally and held its peg near one dollar, changing by roughly 0.01% over 24 hours and changing hands around $0.9998 according to CoinMarketCap.
How the CircleMetals scam tried to piggyback USDC
The fraudulent press release, distributed on December 24 through crypto PR channels, described a new platform named CircleMetals that supposedly enabled 24/7 swaps between USDC and tokenized gold and silver under the tickers GLDC and SILC. Reports from CoinDesk, summarized by CoinGlass and TokenPost, note that the text also promised “1.25% in $CIRM rewards” for users who swapped through the platform.
None of these assets appear on major data aggregators, and multiple outlets state that they could not locate a verifiable listing for CIRM. A separate risk scan by Gridinsoft now tags circlemetals.com as a suspicious website with a trust score of 1 out of 100, citing a two day old domain, hidden ownership and blacklist flags.
According to Forklog, the fake announcement first appeared as a post on a Circle community forum before scammers pushed it through crypto newswires, including Chainwire. Versions of the alert on exchanges such as KuCoin and KuCoin’s regional feeds repeat the same mechanics. The release copied Circle branding, inserted fabricated quotes from CEO Jeremy Allaire and other executives, and funneled users toward a site that prompted immediate wallet connections.
Circle’s public warning
Circle addressed the incident without even naming CircleMetals in its public messaging. Instead, the firm pushed a broad cautionary note from its main account on X, stressing basic hygiene around links and wallet permissions. The post, linked by Forklog, sits at twitter.com/circle/status/2003911712148541572.
“Be alert and vigilant. Verify the legitimacy of requests before taking action, especially when asked to connect your wallet.”
Circle on X, December 24
In the same thread, Circle reminded followers that major product announcements always come from its official site and verified social accounts, not from random PR blasts or community forum posts. That detail matters here. The fake CircleMetals release leaned on the current hype around tokenized real world assets and a plausible narrative about USDC backed metal markets to reach audiences who might skip basic checks during the holidays.
Brand impersonation risk keeps climbing
This incident slots into a broader shift toward brand impersonation as a preferred scam tactic in crypto. Chainalysis estimates that on chain scam inflows in 2024 reached at least $9.9 billion and projects that total to rise as investigators attribute more addresses, with much of the growth driven by higher quality fake sites and AI enhanced content that imitates trusted institutions. The firm’s February 2025 crime report highlights how fraud groups now spin up convincing websites, PR copy and social accounts at scale in order to hijack brands and capture deposits.
CircleMetals fits that pattern. Scammers copied Circle’s visual identity, injected fake executive quotes and timed distribution for December 24, when many desks run thin staffing. They then pushed users toward a fresh domain that independent scanners already flag as high risk. The move targets exactly the demographic that treats USDC as a conservative part of a portfolio and might see “tokenized metals” as a low drama extension of a stablecoin position.
For now, Circle’s denial and the quick coverage across outlets like Yahoo Finance, Forklog, TokenPost and multiple exchange feeds limit the blast radius. The episode still offers a clear lesson. Treat any new “official” product pitch that arrives first through a PR wire, a random Discord or a thin website as suspect until you verify it against Circle’s own channels and established news desks.
