Circle enables USDC transfers in Brazil and Mexico

Circle has announced support for USDC in Brazil and Mexico. The company has integrated PIX and SPEI to enable domestic bank transfers with USDC.

Stablecoin issuer Circle USDC has announced that it is now available in Brazil and Mexico, with users in the two countries now able to access the stablecoin via local bank transfers.

In a Sept. 17 announcement, Circle said it has merged top banks in Brazil and Mexico to integrate “national, real-time payment systems” with the USDC. Specifically, Circle now supports integration with PIX and SPEI, the national payment systems of Brazil and Mexico.

Domestic bank transfers mean that businesses in the two countries can now access USDC directly from major financial institutions, eliminating the need to transfer funds to overseas banks. This means businesses can access and use the stablecoin for transactions in minutes, rather than the delays that took days with traditional settlement processes.

Great growth potential in Latin America

The launch of USDC in Brazil and Mexico will give users direct access to the US dollar-pegged coin against the Brazilian reais (BRL) and Mexican peso (MMN).

Circle is eyeing wider Latin America with this expansion, a market that is attractive for its cross-border flows.

For example, Mexico's trade with the United States is worth more than $800 billion a year. Meanwhile, 95% of Brazil's annual foreign trade of $640 billion is denominated in dollars. About $120 billion of this is from US/Brazil trade.

While Circle USDC continues to expand its integration with national and regional payment systems, growth in the crypto industry also continues. On Tuesday, the company announced that it will launch native USDC on the Sui blockchain. A circular chain transfer protocol is coming to Sui.

As CoinJournal highlighted on Monday, Circle and Sony Block Solutions Labs have partnered to bring USDC to the recently launched Layer-2 blockchain Soneium. It is the first stablecoin issuer to receive regulatory approval under MiCA regulations.