Sunlight (as in public attention) on the financial marketplace, as with so much else, can have a cleansing affect. This was recently made clear when the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the trade association for firearms and related companies, became aware that Circle Internet Group, a U.S.-based financial-technology company focused on digital currency, blockchain, stablecoins and payments infrastructure, was discriminating against lawful firearms ownership and commerce.
One of Circle’s flagship products is the stablecoin USD Coin (USDC), a digital currency pegged 1:1 to the U.S. dollar. As of early 2025, USDC had a market cap of around $56 billion, or about a quarter of the total stablecoin market. Deep in the fine print in Circle’s service contract was a ban on customers using this crypto currency to legally purchase guns and related products.
The NSSF publicly exposed this ban that forbid its digital currency from being used to purchase “weapons of any kind, including but not limited to firearms, ammunition, knives, explosives, or related accessories.”
This financial discrimination—though a common anti-gun political position during the Obama and Biden administrations—runs directly contrary to President Donald Trump’s (R) recent executive order guaranteeing free and fair banking. Also, Congress recently passed, and Trump signed, the GENIUS Act to, as the NSSF put it, “bring stability and accountability to the digital asset market by providing a legal framework for U.S. dollar–backed stablecoins, like Circle.”
“Once Circle’s policy of discrimination was raised in the public eye, including in a column from Americans for Tax Reform’s Grover Norquist and buoyed and magnified by NSSF efforts, the stablecoin issuer began to backtrack,” said the NSSF.
“Circle has always held that to the right of lawful, the use of money should be free. This includes lawful purchases of firearms, with is a Second Amendment protected right,” said in a statement from Circle Internet Group. “As the GENIUS Act comes into force, Circle will work with our partners to ensure our values are reflected in our Terms.”
Soon thereafter, Circle Internet Group clarified its terms of service policy “to reflect that USDC may be used for the lawful purchase and sale of firearms, as protected under the Second Amendment.”
“This is especially welcomed news coming from a member of an industry—cryptocurrency —that experienced the same discrimination that the firearm industry has also experienced for decades, under both former President’s Joe Biden and Barack Obama,” said Mark Oliva, director of public affairs for the NSSF.
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