Circle Internet Group signed a definitive agreement on September 8 to acquire Tazapay, a Singapore-headquartered B2B cross-border payments infrastructure company, in a deal expected to close in 2027 subject to regulatory approvals including clearance from the Monetary Authority of Singapore. The acquisition brings Circle, the issuer of USDC, a payments network with more than $25 billion in annualized payment volume, local payout rails covering more than 100 markets, and relationships with over 60 banking and fintech partners.
Circle has signed an agreement to acquire @Tazapay. 60+ banking and fintech partners. 100+ payment markets. 60%+ stablecoin TPV as of July 31, 2026. This accelerates the breadth and depth of CPN globally. https://t.co/L1AufIzus7
— Jeremy Allaire - jerallaire.arc (@jerallaire) September 8, 2026
Approximately 60% of Tazapay's transaction volume already involves stablecoins, a figure that Tazapay CEO Rahul Shinghal described as the clearest explanation for why the deal made sense.
"We built Tazapay to make payments faster, remove friction, and streamline dependency on banking rails that don't operate at the speed of global commerce," Shinghal said. "Circle has the dollar infrastructure in USDC and the regulatory standing to take what we've built further than we could alone."
Jeremy Allaire, Circle's co-founder and CEO, framed the acquisition as a direct accelerant for USDC adoption.
"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," Allaire said.
Why Circle needed Tazapay's specific infrastructure
Circle's existing strength is on the issuance and network side. USDC has the regulatory standing and the dollar backing. What it has lacked at scale is compliant, licensed fiat infrastructure in emerging markets, the local banking relationships and payout rails that allow stablecoin settlement to originate and terminate in local currency across markets where traditional correspondent banking is slow or expensive.
Cross-border B2B payments remain one of the most expensive and friction-heavy segments of global finance. The World Bank estimated the global average cost of sending a remittance at approximately 6.4% of the transaction value in 2023, with business-to-business cross-border payments carrying additional complexity around compliance, FX conversion, and settlement timing. SWIFT, the dominant messaging network for international bank transfers, typically settles transactions in one to five business days. Tazapay's infrastructure is built specifically to compress that timeline and reduce the correspondent banking dependencies that create both cost and delay.
Irfan Ganchi, Circle's Senior Vice President of Payments, described what the combination delivers operationally.
"This acquisition will increase Circle's capability to originate and terminate payments globally, near-instant and 24/7, which is a meaningful step toward making USDC the default payment rail for cross-border commerce," Ganchi said.
Tazapay's licensing footprint and how it reached this point
Tazapay holds licenses and registrations across Singapore, the United States, Canada, Australia, and Hong Kong. Its stablecoin-related services run through Tazapay Canada Corp., registered as a money services business under FINTRAC. The Singapore entity does not provide Digital Payment Token services under Singapore's Payment Services Act 2019, a distinction that reflects the regulatory complexity of operating stablecoin infrastructure across multiple jurisdictions simultaneously.
The relationship between Circle and Tazapay predates the acquisition announcement. Circle participated as lead investor in Tazapay's Series B extension, and Tazapay joined Circle Payments Network as an early design partner in 2025. That prior commercial relationship means Circle's due diligence covers an operating partner it has already worked with directly rather than an untested acquisition target. Peak XV Partners, the Sequoia-affiliated venture firm operating across India and Southeast Asia, was also an investor in Tazapay before the Circle deal.
The APAC and emerging market dimension
The geographic concentration of Tazapay's operations matters for Circle's strategy. Demand for USDC-denominated transactions has grown fastest in Asia-Pacific and emerging markets, where currency instability, limited banking access, and high remittance costs create a structural case for stablecoin settlement that does not exist in the same form in developed markets.
Southeast Asia's B2B payments market has attracted significant investment over the past five years. The region's fragmented banking infrastructure, with different settlement systems across Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Vietnam, creates exactly the kind of friction that a stablecoin settlement layer can reduce. India's cross-border payment volume has also grown substantially, driven by both trade flows and the diaspora remittance corridor. Tazapay's team presence in Delhi, Chennai, and Bangalore alongside Singapore reflects an operational focus on the India corridor that Circle does not currently have at the same depth.
Circle's Arc blockchain, described as an enterprise-grade blockchain designed to serve as an economic operating system for the internet, sits alongside USDC and Circle Payments Network as the third component of the company's infrastructure stack. Tazapay's fiat rails connect to that stack at the point where stablecoin settlement meets local currency disbursement.
Tazapay customers face no service disruption. Existing contracts, virtual accounts, payout routes, settlement arrangements, and API integrations continue unchanged. Shinghal said any future changes would be communicated before they happen.
Roman Zaika
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