Circle plans to take its USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin into about 40 emerging and developing countries, CEO Jeremy Allaire said Friday, arguing blockchain adoption is going mainstream.
Key Points:
- Circle wants to enter about 40 markets across Southeast Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East.
- USDC circulation climbed 19% from a year earlier to $73.3 billion in the second quarter.
- Allaire expects the GENIUS Act, set to take effect in January, to create legal digital dollars.
Circle's 40-Market Push
Allaire said the company is making a major push into those countries because blockchain technology is moving out of its early adopter phase and into a mainstream scaling phase. "We're kind of going through an inflection point," he said. He spoke on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings in Bangkok.
Southeast Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East are seeing rising organic demand for stablecoins from individuals and businesses, Allaire said. USDC circulation rose 19% from a year earlier to $73.3 billion in the second quarter, though the token still trails its biggest rival.
Circle holds roughly 25% of the global stablecoin market. Tether (USDT) commands nearly 60%.
Major banks and payment firms are moving past pilot programs to use stablecoins for cross-border settlement, and Circle's Arc network already counts BlackRock, Visa and Standard Chartered among its users.
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Allaire's Regulatory Bet
Allaire tied the push to regulation. Once the GENIUS Act takes effect in January, he said, "the world will have legal digital dollars," a shift he called a watershed moment.
He welcomed bank groups in the U.S. and Europe that are building their own stablecoins, calling the trend a sign of a healthy and competitive market. "The innovators are having their day," he said. Allaire also said payments between AI agents, which spend fractions of a cent on web research and real-time data, have lifted USDC use, though he warned that AI brings new security risks.
Circle became one of the first stablecoin issuers to hold a federal bank charter in July, and one market analysis argued that could make banks more willing to use USDC in live settlement.
The Bangkok remarks cap a busy few months for Circle. On Sept. 8, the company agreed to buy Singapore-based payments firm Tazapay in a $400 million all-stock deal that still needs approval from Singapore's central bank and is expected to close in 2027.
Two weeks later, Binance announced a $100 million equity investment in Circle and a five-year deal to promote USDC across emerging markets.
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