- Circle announces support for USDC in Brazil and Mexico
- The company has integrated local payment systems PIX and SPEI to enable local bank transfers with USDC
Stablecoin issuer Circle has announced that its USDC is now available in Brazil and Mexico. Users in the two countries can now access the stablecoin via local bank transfers.
In a statement, Circle said it had integrated top banks in Brazil and Mexico to allow for “national, real-time payment systems” with USDC. Specifically, Circle now supports integration with PIX and SPEI, the national payment systems for Brazil and Mexico.
Local bank transfers means businesses in the two countries now have direct access to USDC from large financial institutions, with this removing the need for wire transfers to overseas banks. It also means businesses can access and use the stablecoin within minutes of a transaction, instead of the delays that took days in traditional settlement processes.
Huge potential for growth in Latin America
The launch of USDC in Brazil and Mexico will see users get the US dollar-pegged coin directly with their Brazilian Reais (BRL) and Mexican Pesos (MXN).
Circle is eyeing the broader Latin American market with this expansion, with the market attractive for its massive cross-border flows.
For instance, Mexico’s trade with the US accounts for more than $800 billion in value exchange annually. Meanwhile, 95% of Brazil’s annual foreign trade amounting to $640 billion happens in dollars. Roughly $120 billion of this is from the US/Brazil trade.
While Circle continues expanding its USDC integration across national and regional payment systems, its growth across the crypto industry is also ongoing. On Tuesday, the company announced it was launching native USDC on Sui blockchain. Circle’s cross-chain transfer protocol is also coming to Sui.
As CoinJournal highlighted on Monday, Circle and Sony Block Solutions Labs have partnered to bring USDC onto the recently launched layer-2 blockchain Soneium. The stablecoin issuer was the first to receive regulatory approval under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation’s (MiCA).