Circle to Challenge Visa and Mastercard with New Payment Product

On April 22, Circle, the issuer of USDC, will launch a new product for payments and cross-border transfers as an alternative to Visa and Mastercard. This is reported by CoinDesk, citing the company’s presentation.

The solution is intended for banks, fintech firms, payment service providers, money transfer providers, and strategic partners of the stablecoin issuer.

“Circle aims to compete with Mastercard and Visa,” an informed source told the publication.

According to a16z, stablecoin technology has reached a sufficient level of adoption to reshape the global money transfer industry. They compared its impact to that of WhatsApp on international calls.

Data from Artemis shows that over 12 months, the transaction volume with “stablecoins” reached $35 trillion. For comparison, Visa processed $15.7 trillion in payments in 2024, while Mastercard handled $9 trillion in the fourth quarter alone.

Earlier, journalists learned about Visa’s participation in the USDG stablecoin consortium. Established in November 2024, the organization initially included Anchorage Digital, Bullish, Galaxy Digital, Kraken, Nuvei, Robinhood, and Paxos.

CoinDesk reminded readers of recent legislative initiatives in the US that could lend legitimacy to tokens.

The digital asset markets working group formed by Trump in January identified the development of a regulatory framework for “stablecoins” as a priority.

In January, the total transaction volume with USDC exceeded $20 trillion.

In April, WSJ reported on the possible postponement by the USDC issuer of its IPO.

FT has noted that global banks and fintech companies have entered the “stablecoin race.”