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Circle CEO says USDC is heading into dozens of emerging markets as stablecoins hit a ‘mainstream’ phase
Summary
Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire told Reuters on Oct. 16 that the USDC issuer plans to expand into dozens of emerging and developing markets, citing rising stablecoin demand in Southeast Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East, CoinDesk and Decrypt reported.
Decrypt and CoinDesk’s headline put the figure at about 40 markets, while the body of CoinDesk’s story said about 50; both stories rely on the same Reuters interview.
Allaire said blockchain is moving “from the early adopter phase of blockchain technology into the mainstream scaling phase,” and both outlets pointed to Circle’s $400 million Tazapay acquisition and its federal trust bank approval in July as support for the push.
Both outlets said USDC holds roughly a quarter of the stablecoin market versus nearly 60% for Tether’s USDT; Decrypt put USDC’s second-quarter circulation at $73.3 billion, up 19% year over year, while CoinDesk cited about $72.6 billion from its own data.
Decrypt reported Allaire called the GENIUS Act, set to take effect in January, “a watershed moment,” and also warned that AI is raising security risks for financial infrastructure.
Key facts
- Allaire made the comments in a Reuters interview on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank meetings in Bangkok.
- Circle plans to enter roughly 40 emerging and developing countries.
- CoinDesk’s story body said about 50 emerging and developing markets, and said Circle agreed to buy Singapore-based Tazapay for $400 million, with access to banking and payment networks in 100+ markets.
- USDC has about a quarter of the stablecoin market versus nearly 60% for Tether’s USDT.
- Decrypt, citing Reuters, said Circle also has a $100 million strategic investment from Binance and that its Arc network has been adopted by BlackRock, Visa and Standard Chartered.