Fintech firm Circle, a company providing payments and financial infrastructure for internet businesses, has integrated with Plaid, a data network powering the digital financial ecosystem.
The integration simplifies the process of connecting bank accounts and accepting ACH payments because Plaid enables quicker account verification, the companies said. End users from customers such as Linus and Dharma can now directly connect their bank accounts without sharing details with Circle.
“Seamless, trusted payment infrastructure is essential for enabling global economic commerce on the Internet and we’re proud Plaid’s network will help customers experience how automation can power frictionless value exchange,” said Dante Disparte, Circle’s chief strategy officer and head of Global Policy.
“ACH payments are increasingly critical as digital finance becomes the ‘new normal’. However, historical processes and infrastructure don’t properly support the increase in money flowing online between accounts,” said Paul Williamson, head of Revenue and Partnerships at Plaid. “Innovative companies like Circle offer easier ACH processing combined with the power of Plaid’s instant Auth and account verification for better money movement experiences.”
“The Circle and Plaid combination has completely streamlined our business’ fiat to crypto operations, enabling a fast, fully automated journey into and out of USDC for our customers. It’s resulted in faster settlement times, reduced operational overhead, and improved user experience,” said Matthew Hamilton, co-founder and COO at Linus.
Using Circle’s payments and payouts APIs, ACH payments automatically settle as USD Coin (USDC) and payouts enable automatic conversion from USDC into ACH transfers. Combined with Circle Digital Dollar Account APIs, customers can build sophisticated treasury management and payments applications that also tap into the openness, global reach, and cost-efficiency of dollar digital currencies like USDC.
Since the Plaid integration, Circle has successfully enabled ACH payment and payouts for customers including Dharma, Linus, and Lemonade Finance.