Circle Targets 40 Markets as USDC Seeks Cheaper Payments

Circle plans to expand its USDC stablecoin into 40 developing markets across Latin America, Southeast Asia, Africa and the Middle East. The company is seeking wider adoption of USDC for international payments.

Visa is moving its USDC funding service for cross-border payouts from a pilot program to commercial use in 180 countries. The cost of converting USDC into local currencies has not been disclosed.

The conversion cost could affect the total price paid by recipients. A transfer made with USDC may become more expensive when the recipient exchanges the stablecoin for local money.

Circle reported $1.40 billion in revenue for the first half of 2026. The company attributed much of USDC’s adoption to agentic payments, in which software agents conduct transactions.

Bernstein data cited in the source showed USDC accounting for more than 60% of adjusted stablecoin transaction volume in 2026. USDT, issued by Tether, had a larger market capitalization.

USDC had a market capitalization of about $72.5 billion, compared with roughly $183 billion for USDT. Circle minted $3.75 billion worth of USDC on Solana in the seven days before the source was published.

Circle launched its Arc blockchain in mid-September. Arc held less than 1% of the total USDC supply, equal to about $661.4 million.

Token Terminal data showed that Ethereum accounted for 66.6% of USDC circulation. Solana, HyperEVM, Base and Arbitrum One followed by supply share.

USDC’s decentralized-finance total value locked increased 6% after Arc’s launch. Weekly asset senders rose 5.4% to 5.5 million. Circle shares, traded under the CRCL ticker, fell from $84 to $82 during the period covered by the source.