Circle’s $400 Mn Tazapay Deal Targets Stablecoin Payments’ Last Mile
The USDC issuer is acquiring a design partner in its own payments network, bringing local payout infrastructure in-house as it pushes deeper into cross-border commerce.
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Circle Internet Group, the New York-based issuer of the USDC stablecoin, is paying $400 Mn in stock to acquire Tazapay, a Singapore-headquartered firm connecting businesses to local collection and payout systems in more than 100 markets. The deal moves Circle from investor and network partner to owner of the cross-border infrastructure that helps move stablecoins into local financial systems.
Under an agreement signed on September 4 and announced on September 8, Circle will acquire all Tazapay shares that the US firm and its affiliates do not already own. The consideration will be paid in Circle Class A shares and adjusted for unpaid debt, transaction expenses and cash.
Circle will also award $25 Mn of restricted stock units to agreed Tazapay employees after closing. The deal is expected to close in 2027, subject to regulatory approvals, including from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
Circle listed on the New York Stock Exchange in June 2025 and had $73.3 Bn of USDC in circulation at the end of the second quarter (June 2026, as its fiscal year starts in January). Almost all of its money still comes from interest on the assets held against those tokens. Of the $701 Mn it made in the second quarter, about 95%, or $668 Mn, was interest earned on the cash and government bonds backing USDC. The rest of the business brought in $34 Mn.
Its earnings beyond that spread are the strategic problem the Tazapay purchase is meant to address.
Tazapay gives Circle scale at the harder end of cross-border payments. As of July 31, it handled more than $25 Bn in annualised payment volume, worked with over 60 banking and fintech partners and had local payout rails across more than 100 markets. About 60% of its transaction volume already involved stablecoins.
Its regulatory footprint has also widened. Tazapay holds or operates under licences and registrations in Singapore, Canada, the US, Australia and Hong Kong, while its website lists the EU and the UAE on its licensing road map.
The strategic overlap is unusually direct. Circle Payments Network (CPN) connects banks, payment providers and digital wallets so that they can settle cross-border payments in stablecoins, and Tazapay has been a design partner since its launch in 2025, helping convert USDC received through the network into local currencies for settlement into bank accounts.
CPN reached $14.7 Bn in annualised payment volume on a trailing 30-day basis at the end of the second quarter, up 76% sequentially, with 175 financial institutions enrolled. Circle said that figure had risen to $23 Bn by July 31.
On the disclosed run rates, Tazapay was therefore handling more annualised payment volume than CPN on the same date, although the two measures are not necessarily like-for-like. More important, Circle is bringing one of the external partners that helps originate and complete payments at the local end of its network in-house.
Irfan Ganchi, Circle’s senior vice-president of payments, said the acquisition would increase the company’s capability to originate and terminate payments globally, as it pushes to make USDC a default rail for cross-border commerce.
There is already a capital relationship. Circle Ventures led Tazapay’s Series B extension in March this year, taking the round to $36 Mn. CMT Digital and Coinbase Ventures joined as new investors, while Peak XV Partners, GMO Venture Partners and January Capital participated. Tazapay also lists Ripple, which operates its own stablecoin and payments businesses, among its existing backers.
Tazapay will not materially change Circle’s revenue mix. However, the acquisition shows where Circle sees the next layer of value. It is not simply issuing the digital dollars used in cross-border transactions, but owning more of the infrastructure that gets them into and out of local financial systems.
Stablecoins may move money globally, but making them usable locally still requires licences, compliance and connections to conventional payment networks. Circle’s $400 Mn bet is that owning more of that last mile can turn USDC from a settlement asset into payments infrastructure.
Circle Internet Group, the New York-based issuer of the USDC stablecoin, is paying $400 Mn in stock to acquire Tazapay, a Singapore-headquartered firm connecting businesses to local collection and payout systems in more than 100 markets. The deal moves Circle from investor and network partner to owner of the cross-border infrastructure that helps move stablecoins into local financial systems.
Under an agreement signed on September 4 and announced on September 8, Circle will acquire all Tazapay shares that the US firm and its affiliates do not already own. The consideration will be paid in Circle Class A shares and adjusted for unpaid debt, transaction expenses and cash.
Circle will also award $25 Mn of restricted stock units to agreed Tazapay employees after closing. The deal is expected to close in 2027, subject to regulatory approvals, including from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
