Circle Plans Push Into 40 Emerging Markets: Reuters

Circle, the company behind the USDC stablecoin, is making a major push to enter about 40 emerging and developing countries, its chief executive Jeremy Allaire told Reuters. Neither Allaire nor Reuters named the countries or gave a timeline, and TSN could not find a Circle announcement setting out the plan.

What Allaire said

Allaire spoke to Reuters on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank meetings in Bangkok. The figure of about 40 countries comes from Reuters’ summary of the interview, not a direct quote. Allaire framed the expansion around a shift in adoption:

“We’re kind of going through an inflection point…a transition right now, and that transition is essentially moving from the early adopter phase of blockchain technology into the mainstream scaling phase.”

According to Reuters, Allaire said markets in Southeast Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East are seeing rising organic demand for stablecoins from individuals and businesses that want to take part in an internet-based economy.

What backs the push

Reuters says Circle’s expansion is backed by “a $400 million acquisition of Tazapay and a $100 million strategic investment from Binance”. It also notes that Circle “in July became one of the first stablecoin issuers to hold a federal bank charter”.

Reuters reports that Circle holds roughly 25% of the global stablecoin market, against nearly 60% for Tether’s USDT. It says USDC circulation rose 19% year on year to $73.3 billion in the second quarter. TSN has not checked those figures against Circle’s own filings. Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies designed to hold a steady value, usually pegged to a currency such as the US dollar.

Regulation as a tailwind

Allaire pointed to clearer rules, especially the US GENIUS Act, which Reuters says is “slated to take effect next January”. “When the Genius Act goes into law, the world will have legal digital dollars…That is a watershed moment,” he said.

He also welcomed banks building their own stablecoins in the US and Europe, calling it a sign of a healthy and competitive market. “There’s a very, very long time where the banking industry fought successfully to keep other people out, and I think they are no longer in charge, and the innovators are having their day,” he told Reuters.

AI agents and security

Reuters reports that major financial institutions and payment firms are moving past pilot programmes to use stablecoins for cross-border settlements and asset transfers. Reuters says Circle offers on-chain infrastructure through its Arc platform, which it describes as adopted by BlackRock, Visa and Standard Chartered. Allaire said a surge in machine-to-machine payments between AI agents, which make fractions-of-a-cent payments for tasks such as web research and real-time data gathering, has also driven USDC use. He also warned that the rapid spread of AI brings greater security risks, with financial infrastructure providers facing threats from sophisticated actors and “automated agent swarms”, in Reuters’ words.

What we don’t know

Which countries are in the roughly 40, and in what order Circle will enter them.
The timeline, and whether entry means licences, local partners or simply making USDC available.
How the plan fits with local stablecoin rules, which vary widely across the regions named.

What this means

Circle’s CEO told Reuters the company is pushing into about 40 emerging and developing countries, with Southeast Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East named as regions.
No country list, timeline or formal Circle announcement has been published.
The push builds on Circle’s Tazapay acquisition, Binance’s investment and its US bank charter, as Reuters reports.