Circle has agreed to acquire Singapore-based payments infrastructure company Tazapay in a $400m all-share deal, bringing more than $25bn in annualised payment volume into the orbit of its USDC stablecoin.
The transaction, which is expected to complete in 2027 subject to regulatory approval, including clearance from the Monetary Authority of Singapore, is one of Circle’s most significant efforts to extend USDC beyond cryptocurrency trading and into international commerce.
Tazapay works with more than 60 banking and fintech partners and provides local payout infrastructure across more than 100 markets. About 60% of its transaction volume already involves stablecoins, giving Circle an established base from which to expand the use of USDC in Asia, Africa and other rapidly growing markets.
The acquisition offers Circle access to banking relationships and local payment systems that would take considerable time to build independently across fragmented international markets.
“Stablecoin settlement is becoming core infrastructure in the global economy,” Circle chief executive Jeremy Allaire said in the announcement.
He said combining USDC with Tazapay’s banking network and institutional customer base could help speed up adoption of the digital dollar worldwide.
Tazapay has worked as a design partner for Circle Payments Network since 2025, meaning the companies already have an established operating relationship.
Circle senior vice-president of payments Irfan Ganchi said the deal would strengthen the company’s international payment capabilities.
The acquisition will increase “Circle’s capability to originate and terminate payments globally, near-instant and 24/7, a meaningful step toward making USDC the default payment rail for cross-border commerce,” he said.
Stablecoins can make the movement of digital dollars between countries faster, but that is only one part of the cross-border payments process. Converting USDC into local currencies and transferring funds into bank accounts across multiple jurisdictions remains a more complex challenge.
That is where Tazapay’s local infrastructure could prove valuable to Circle, particularly in markets where payment networks are less developed or more fragmented.
Rob Hadick, a general partner at Dragonfly, described the acquisition as “the right move”. He pointed to Tazapay’s presence in Asia and the growing strategic role of Singapore, while identifying payment corridors between Asia and Africa as areas where stablecoins could have a particularly disruptive effect.
Those routes remain less efficient than established payment networks in mature Western markets, Hadick said.
Tazapay chief executive Rahul Shinghal said Circle offered the regulatory position and dollar infrastructure required to expand the company’s network.
“Circle has the dollar infrastructure in USDC and the regulatory standing to take what we’ve built further than we could alone,” he said.
The deal comes as stablecoin use in traditional finance continues to grow. Visa recently said its stablecoin settlement volume had passed an annualised run rate of $20bn, representing an increase of more than 15 times compared with the same period a year earlier.
Circle is therefore presenting USDC not only as a crypto asset but as infrastructure for global settlement and commerce.
One commentator, AKA, described the wider ambition on X by writing: “USDC is quietly becoming the internet’s dollar rail.”
The Tazapay agreement indicates Circle is committing significant resources to making that proposition a practical reality.
Circle has also signed a principal partnership with Chelsea Football Club, which will feature Circle and USDC branding.
