Circle and Finastra Push USDC Into Global Payment Systems

• Finastra partners with Circle to integrate USDC settlement into Global PAYplus, streamlining international cross-border payments.
• The collaboration enhances speed, efficiency, and compliance, giving banks faster settlement options without building new infrastructure.

Finastra and Circle have officially collaborated to integrate the USDC stablecoin into their cross-border payment system through Finastra’s Global PAYplus (GPP).

For those unfamiliar, GPP is one of the largest payment platforms, processing over $5 trillion in transactions daily.

This integration is believed to provide a new way to settle international transactions, faster and more cost-effectively, without having to rely entirely on traditional correspondent banking systems.

Banks will be able to use USDC as a settlement instrument, even though payment instructions are still written in fiat currency. This provides financial institutions with an additional, practical option.

Furthermore, banks will not need to build new infrastructure because GPP is ready to use. This infrastructure efficiency is one of the points considered attractive by industry players, especially amid pressure to reduce cross-border transaction costs.

Faster Settlements and a New Era for Banks

In terms of benefits, this collaboration is expected to accelerate settlement times to near-instant. At the same time, costs can also be significantly reduced. Regulation remains intact because USDC is a stablecoin based on compliance standards. Furthermore, transaction transparency is easier to monitor.

Finastra CEO Chris Walters said the partnership with Circle will help banks innovate without having to start from scratch.

Meanwhile, Jeremy Allaire, founder and CEO of Circle, sees Finastra as a natural partner due to its extensive reach in the banking sector.

Furthermore, this collaboration is inseparable from the global trend of stablecoin use, which is increasingly gaining ground in international payment channels.

Stablecoins are considered to offer the benefits of 24/7 access, instant processing, and lower risk. For many banks, this clearly makes more sense than continuing to rely on slow, traditional channels.

On the other hand, Circle’s development has been quite aggressive this year. Early last July, Circle introduced the CPN (Custom Payment Network) feature, which allows financial institutions to set specific rules for USDC transactions.

This feature immediately automates compliance filters, so ineligible transactions can be stopped even before they are processed. This provides banks with greater control without disrupting network interoperability.

From Gas Fees to Bank Charters, Circle Pushes Forward

Last May, as we previously highlighted, Circle added EOA wallet support for its Paymaster feature on seven major blockchains, including Ethereum, Arbitrum, and Polygon. This innovation allows gas fees to be paid directly with USDC without having to use the network’s native token. Convenient, isn’t it? This feature opens the door for more users and developers to use USDC in their daily activities.

On the regulatory front, last July, the CNF also reported that Ripple and Circle had both applied for national bank trust licenses. This move was seen as a strong signal that the crypto industry was increasingly entering the heart of the traditional financial system.

Interestingly, all of this occurred at a time when regulatory pressure on crypto was easing under President Donald Trump’s administration. The more relaxed political climate certainly provides room for companies like Circle to expand their role.