Circle wants forty more countries

Circle, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, is pushing to enter about 40 emerging and developing countries, its chief executive, Jeremy Allaire, told Reuters in an interview published on Friday. Reuters datelined the story from Bangkok, and Decrypt reported that Allaire spoke on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank meetings there. He pointed to rising demand for stablecoin payments and financial services in Southeast Asia, Latin America and the Middle East, according to Reuters as relayed by CoinDesk; Decrypt added Africa.

The count needs a word. CoinDesk's headline says 40, but its summary and the body of its article say "about 50". The Reuters text gives "about 40", as does Decrypt, and we follow Reuters. None of the reports names a country, a timetable or a licence application, so the figure is a statement of intent from the company rather than a list of approvals.

Allaire framed the push as a change of phase. "We're kind of going through an inflection point...a transition right now," he said, according to CoinDesk's account of the interview. "That transition is essentially moving from the early adopter phase of blockchain technology into the mainstream scaling phase." On banks, which are building digital currencies of their own and which he said he welcomed, he was blunter: "There's a very, very long time where the banking industry fought successfully to keep other people out, and I think they are no longer in charge, and the innovators are having their day."

The circulation figures in the coverage differ, and the difference is one of timing. CoinDesk put USDC in circulation at about $72.6bn, citing its own data, while Decrypt gave $73.3bn, up 19 per cent from a year earlier, as a second-quarter figure. DefiLlama's stablecoin tracker showed $72.6bn of USDC on Sunday, 23.7 per cent of about $306bn in dollar-pegged stablecoins, against $183.4bn, or 59.9 per cent, for Tether's USDT. Both outlets described USDC's share as about a quarter and USDT's as nearly 60 per cent, which the tracker bears out.

Circle has been assembling the parts. CoinDesk said the company agreed in September to buy Tazapay, a Singapore-based payments firm, for $400m, which would give it access to local banking and payment networks in more than 100 markets and could help it in countries where USDT has traditionally dominated. Decrypt, citing Reuters, said Circle has also received a $100m strategic investment from Binance. CoinDesk noted that Circle secured US federal trust bank approval in July. None of the reports says whether the Tazapay purchase has closed.

Regulation featured in the interview. Allaire said clearer rules, including the US GENIUS Act governing stablecoins, were encouraging adoption, and Decrypt quoted him calling the law "a watershed moment"; Decrypt said it is set to take effect in January. He also pointed to growing use of USDC by AI agents, software that can make small payments on its own for information and online services, according to CoinDesk, and Decrypt reported that he warned that AI is heightening security risks.

Each market comes with its own rules on payments and foreign currency, and none of the reports says which licences Circle holds or has sought. For Circle, entering more markets means competing directly with banks and payment companies for cross-border money flows, CoinDesk observed, in places where Tether already has the larger share. How many of the 40 the company reaches, and on what terms, will show up in licences rather than interviews.

Komposite reported this week that the European Banking Authority classified USDC as the EU's first significant e-money token, and on Mastercard's first BVNK product, which holds fiat and stablecoins together. We have also covered the race for federal trust charters to custody stablecoins.