[NEW YORK] Circle Internet Group is launching a payments network designed to allow financial institutions and technology firms to settle cross-border transactions in stablecoins.
The network is designed to link financial institutions with each other and technology firms including payment service providers, digital wallet companies and banking apps to enable real-time settlement of cross border payments, Circle said. Coindesk earlier reported the Circle Payments Network’s launch plans.
The plan by Circle, issuer of the second-largest stablecoin, highlights the growing ambitions among both crypto-native and traditional financial firms to utilise stablecoins for faster and cheaper transmission of money. Cross-border payments typically rely on a correspondent banking system which can incur settlement delays and additional costs imposed by intermediaries.
Initial use cases for Circle’s network include facilitating vendor payments abroad, remittances, payroll, capital markets settlement or treasury operations, according to the company. The network is designed to accommodate its members’ preferred stablecoin, which is a type of cryptocurrency pegged to the value of the US dollar or another currency or asset.
“We realised there was a gap in the market for companies, for banks, for payment service providers who want to use stablecoins for payments but do not know how to go about doing that,” Nikhil Chandhok, chief product and technology officer at Circle, said. “You need a common language that goes beyond the settlement, that speaks to the exchange of information with the payments, that is needed for these blockchain-enabled payments around the world.”
The network will offer initial support for Circle’s USDC, a US dollar-pegged stablecoin with a current market value of about US$61 billion, as well as EURC, its euro-pegged stablecoin.
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Circle plans to leverage its cross-chain transfer protocol to make the network compatible with any blockchain its member institutions use. Circle’s USDC is currently the second-largest stablecoin and is available on 19 blockchains including Solana, Base, Avalanche and Algorand.
Senders using Circle’s network can initiate payments in either traditional currencies or stablecoins and the receiving party can choose to accept the stablecoins or convert them to local currency, according to the company. The eventual aim is to allow members to utilise smart contracts, which are digital agreements that automatically execute once certain conditions are met, to streamline their payments operations.
Circle Payments Network’s aim is to directly link financial institutions and technology firms to orchestrate both the necessary messaging and settlement of funds, without relying on the correspondent banking network. Circle defines participating financial institutions as virtual asset service providers, both traditional and crypto-native payment service providers and conventional or digital banks. Circle plans a limited launch of the payments network in May, according to the statement.
The company’s goal is to foster the adoption of stablecoin payments by financial institutions by building a compliant network where members can transact with the knowledge that every participating institution has met global standards for anti-money laundering and countering terrorism financing, among other compliance standards.
The network was designed in partnership with Banco Santander, Deutsche Bank, Societe Generale and Standard Chartered Bank. Fintech partners include payments firms Nuevi, Zepz, dLocal and Flutterwave, among others.
“This is not just about Circle-issued stablecoins such as USDC and EURC,” Circle’s Chandhok said. “We see more stablecoins coming on the market and we would like to grow the market. We would like to increase the utility of stablecoins.”
Circle’s plans come weeks after New York-based company filed for an initial public offering and as landmark stablecoin legislation works its way through Congress under the crypto-friendly Trump administration. BLOOMBERG
