Standard Chartered offers institutional USDC minting, redemption

Standard Chartered and Circle will let institutional clients mint and redeem USD Coin (USDC) using bank-led rails, with the first rollout scheduled for the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). Standard Chartered said it is the first Global Systemically Important Bank to provide this service.

Under the arrangement, institutional customers can mint and redeem USDC directly through Standard Chartered’s banking platform instead of opening separate accounts with the issuer. The bank will facilitate minting and redemption operations for clients and combine banking, custody and digital-asset services within a single platform.

Standard Chartered plans to expand the offering to other markets over time. The bank also said the service will add payment-related capabilities later, allowing clients to move funds and settle transactions using USDC on the bank’s rails.

In a statement, Standard Chartered wrote: “By embedding USDC access directly within Standard Chartered’s institutional offering, Standard Chartered will bring together banking, custody, and digital asset services within one integrated offering.” The statement confirmed the DIFC launch and mentioned planned market expansion and payment functionality.

Data show USD-pegged stablecoin supply rose from about $160 billion to roughly $300 billion by July 2026. Tether’s USDT remains the largest stablecoin by supply. Circle’s USDC is the second-largest, with supply around $70 billion to $80 billion in recent months.

The partnership centers on USDC, the dollar-pegged token issued by Circle. Standard Chartered said it worked with an established issuer to provide regulated on-ramps and off-ramps for institutional clients that need custody, settlement and payment services within a banking framework. The DIFC deployment is the first production implementation, with further rollouts and features expected in later phases.