Circle's payment network has gone live

The news that inspired our recent "Game of Thrones" coverage on stablecoins was the big new vision from Circle — the issuer of the world's second-largest stablecoin and the dominant player in the U.S. market.

• According to a social media post from the company, that network is up and has run some transactions.

What we're watching: What on Earth is going on with the IPO or the potential acquisition?

💭 Our thought bubble: Tether + Bitfinex seemed to work out real well (there have been issues, of course), so Circle + Coinbase seems extremely not crazy.

• But CEO Jeremy Allaire didn't call me on this one you know so anything could happen.