Stablecoin issuer Circle is announcing the support of national bank transfers involving USDC in Mexico and Brazil.
In a new blog post, the payments platform says that it will now be offering local bank transfers via PIX and SPEI – the respective national real-time payment systems of Mexico and Brazil – eliminating the need for slow international wires.
“Eliminating international wires can drastically reduce the time it takes to access USDC – from days to just minutes, releasing capital trapped in the lengthy settlement processes.
Circle offers access to USDC directly from Brazilian Reais (BRL) and Mexican Pesos (MXN) at competitive rates, thereby avoiding the necessity of having to convert local fiat currency to USD before accessing USDC. This allows businesses to save on cost and benefit from the use of digital dollars in their operations.”
According to Circle, the addition of USDC to PIX and SPEI will help Latin America in terms of boosting business and remittances.
“Faster and cheaper local availability and incorporation into central bank payment systems makes USDC even more attractive for businesses with operations in Latin America, where cross-border flows are heavily dollar-denominated…
The US-to-Mexico corridor comprises the world’s largest remittance flows, topping $63 billion in 2023, up 7% since 2022 and accounting for up to 4% of Mexican GDP. Stablecoins are typically much more cost-effective than traditional remittances, which cost an average of 6.35% of the face value.”
Circle says that in the long run, it plans to integrate USDC with other national banking systems, though no specific nations were named.