On April 21, 2025, stablecoin issuer Circle announced the launch of its Circle Payments Network (CPN).
Unveiled from the company’s headquarters on the 87th floor of One World Trade Center in New York City, this initiative marks a step toward transforming the global payments and remittance landscape.
Designed to hopefully one day compete with traditional service providers such as Visa and Mastercard, CPN leverages stablecoins such as USDC and EURC to enable real-time, cost-efficient cross-border transactions.
The Circle Payments Network aims to address inefficiencies in cross-border payments, which often suffer from high fees—averaging over 6%—and settlement delays that can exceed 24 hours.
By connecting banks, fintech firms, payment service providers, virtual asset service providers, and digital wallets, CPN facilitates near-instant settlements using regulated stablecoins.
This blockchain-based infrastructure ensures transactions are not only faster but also more transparent and affordable, challenging the correspondent banking system’s reliance on intermediaries.
Circle’s CEO, Jeremy Allaire, stated:
“Since our founding, Circle’s goal has been to make moving money as simple and efficient as sending an email. CPN is a significant step in making that vision a reality for businesses worldwide.”
The network supports a range of use cases, including remittances, payroll, vendor payments, capital markets settlement, treasury operations, and on-chain financial applications.
Developers can build innovative financial tools on CPN using smart contracts and modular APIs, fostering a new wave of fintech solutions.
The launch session, attended by representatives from banks, fintechs, and USDC partners, highlighted Circle’s collaboration with financial institutions like Banco Santander, Deutsche Bank, Société Générale, and Standard Chartered.
These partnerships have shaped CPN’s architecture as well as compliance framework, ensuring it meets the needs of regulated entities.
The network is set to roll out in a limited capacity in May 2025, with participation open to licensed financial institutions globally.
CPN’s objectives extend beyond remittances, with Circle positioning it as a direct competitor to legacy payment networks.
According to a source familiar with the project, the network’s long-term goal is to disrupt the global payments industry, capitalizing on the acceptance of stablecoins.
Research from Andreessen Horowitz suggests stablecoins could revolutionize money transfers, akin to WhatsApp’s impact on international calls.
Additionally, Circle’s recent introduction of a Refund Protocol addresses a key barrier to stablecoin adoption by enabling dispute resolution through non-custodial smart contracts, further enhancing trust in its ecosystem.
As regulatory clarity for stablecoins emerges globally, Circle appears to be positioned to lead the charge (along with other global firms like Tether).
Despite postponing its IPO due to market volatility, the company’s strategic pivot to payments infrastructure underscores its confidence in stablecoin-based solutions.
With CPN, Circle is focused on streamlining digital transactions— and it’s attempting to also lay the foundation for a borderless financial future, where money moves as seamlessly as information (a vision shared by other enterprise blockchain firms including Ripple Labs).