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The stablecoin-payments platform Circle Internet Group Inc. said early Tuesday it has agreed to acquire Tazapay, a business-to-business cross-border payments technology developer based in Singapore and serving financial institutions and payment-service providers. Tazapay processes more than $25 billion in payment volume annually, of which approximately 60% includes stablecoins. The parties expect the deal to close next year, though other terms were not disclosed.
In related news, Visa Inc. announced Tuesday a program to support onchain lending for card-linked stablecoin programs offered by fintechs and other issuers. The announcement follows the recently launched Visa Stablecoin Platform, which handles stablecoin settlement. More than 160 stablecoin-linked card programs now operate on the Visa network, the company says.
New York City-based Circle, which issues its own stablecoin, USDC, sees its deal for 6-year-old Tazapay bringing into its fold local payout networks and new banking relationships, the company says. Circle primarily works with BNY Mellon and a few other U.S. banks to handle cash reserves and for other services.
The addition of Tazapay will also pay off in growth for USDC, Circle says. “Stablecoin settlement is becoming core infrastructure in the global economy, and combining USDC with Tazapay’s world-class banking relationships, local payout rails, and institutional customer base will accelerate worldwide USDC adoption,” said Jeremy Allaire, Circle’s cofounder, chief executive, and chairman, in a statement. Circle became an investor in Tazapay last year.
Besides Tazapay’s links to scores of local payout systems in the Asia-Pacific region, Circle is particularly interested the company’s tie-ins to more than 60 banks and fintechs, connections that can help the U.S. company build processing volume and drive down per-transaction costs, Circle says, adding that demand for transactions in USDC is already rising in that part of the world.
Tazapay’s coverage will help make USDC “the default payment rail for cross-border commerce,” predicts Irfan Ganchi, Circle’s senior vice president of payments, in a statement.
Visa’s onchain-lending venture seeks to help card programs connected to stablecoins tap into workin
g capital through onchain lending technology and Visa-compiled data, the network says in its announcement. The move comes as volume on cards linked to stablecoins is getting increasing attention. As of January, annualized volume had reached $18 billion, up from just over $1 billion in 2023, according to the crypto research firm Artemis, though it remains a fraction of overall stablecoin spending.
Now, onchain lending is growing fast, according to Visa, which cites more than $694 billion in loans denominated in stablecoins since 2020. The network says it now hopes to extend that liquidity beyond established crypto markets to day-to-day consumer and business transactions.
