Circle to Close Individual Accounts on November 30

According to Cointelegraph, stablecoin issuer Circle has announced that it will close individual consumer accounts on November 30. The company confirmed the closure in an email, stating that business and institutional 'Mint' accounts will remain available. The decision to close individual accounts is reportedly part of Circle's strategic review. As a result, wiring and minting functionalities will no longer be supported for these accounts.A Circle representative confirmed the account closures, stating that the company is 'phasing out support for legacy consumer accounts' and has notified individual consumers of this decision. However, the closures do not apply to business or institutional Circle Mint accounts. Crypto users have speculated about the reasons behind Circle's decision, with some suggesting that the company's reserves may be getting drained by a network of individual accounts operating as money-laundering intermediaries. Others believe the closures may be part of a cost-cutting or restructuring exercise. In its statement, Circle referred to individual accounts as 'legacy consumer accounts,' implying that they may no longer be used as much as they had been previously.