Stablecoin issuer Circle has just announced support for USDC related national bank transfers in Mexico and Brazil.
In a new blog post, the payments platform said it will offer local bank transfers through PIX and SPEI – the national real-time payment systems of Mexico and Brazil, eliminating the need for slow international transfers.
“Eliminating international transfers can dramatically reduce the time it takes to access USDC – from days to minutes, freeing up Capital trapped in lengthy settlement processes.”
Circle provides access to USDC directly from Brazilian Real (BRL) and Mexican Peso (MXN) at competitive rates, thereby avoiding the need to convert local fiat currencies to USD before accessing USDC. This allows businesses to save costs and take advantage of the benefits of using a digital USD in their operations.”
According to Circle, the addition of USDC to PIX and SPEI will help boost business and remittances in Latin America.
“Faster and cheaper access, along with integration into central bank payment systems, makes USDC more attractive for businesses operating in Latin America, where cross-border flows are largely denominated in USD…”
The US-Mexico remittance route is the world’s largest remittance inflow, reaching $63 billion in 2023, up 7% from 2022 and accounting for 4% of Mexico’s GDP. Stablecoins are often much more cost-effective than sending traditional money, with Medium fees of up to 6.35% of nominal value.”
Circle said that in the long term, it plans to integrate USDC with other national banking systems, although it did not specify which countries.
