Stablecoin issuer Circle to push into 40 new markets, CEO says

By Selena Li

BANGKOK, Oct 16 (Reuters) - Stablecoin issuer Circle CRCL.N is making a major push to enter about 40 emerging and developing countries around the world as blockchain adoption is expected to scale up significantly, the company's CEO and chairman Jeremy Allaire told Reuters.

"We're kind of going through an inflection point...a transition right now, and that transition is essentially moving from the early adopter phase of blockchain technology into the mainstream scaling phase," said Allaire, who is also co-founder of the New York-listed company. He was speaking on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank meetings in Bangkok.

Markers in regions like Southeast Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East are seeing rising organic demand for stablecoins and digital utility from individual and businesses wanting to part of an internet-based economic system, Allaire said.

Circle, the world’s largest regulated stablecoin issuer, is accelerating its global expansion, backed by a $400 million acquisition of Tazapay and a $100 million strategic investment from Binance.

It holds roughly 25% of the global stablecoin market share, while rival USDT, which is issued by Tether, commands nearly 60%. Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies designed to have a stable value relative to traditional cyrptos.

Their increasing adoption is being driven by clearer regulatory frameworks, such as the U.S. Genius Act which is slated to take effect next January. Circle in July became one of the first stablecoin issuers to hold a federal bank charter.

"When the Genius Act goes into law, the world will have legal digital dollars...That is a watershed moment," Allaire said.

Circle's U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin USDC saw a 19% year-over-year rise in circulation to $73.3 billion in the second quarter this year.

Banking coalitions in the U.S. and European markets are moving rapidly to develop and deploy their own stablecoins and digital asset solutions, which Allaire said was a sign of a healthy and competitive market.

"There's a very, very long time where the banking industry fought successfully to keep other people out, and I think they are no longer in charge, and the innovators are having their day," he said.

Major financial institutions and payment firms are moving past pilot programs to embed stablecoins for cross-border settlements and asset transfers. Circle offers on-chain infrastructure via its Arc operating system, which has been adopted by firms including BlackRock BLK.N, Visa V.N and Standard Chartered STAN.L.

A surge in machine-to-machine transactions among AI agents has also propelled USDC use, Allaire said. They execute fractions-of-a-cent payments when doing web research or scraping real-time data.

The executive also warned that the rapid expansion of AI brings heightened security vulnerabilities, noting that financial infrastructure providers face escalating threats from sophisticated actors and automated agent swarms.

"If you're not concerned about it, then your head is in the sand, right?” he said.