Circle, the company behind the USDC stablecoin, introduced a new international payments network in April 2025, aiming to make global payments faster, cheaper, and more transparent. This guide breaks down how the Circle Payments Network (CPN) works, its key features, real-world use cases, and where it stands in the broader cross-border payments space.
KEY TAKEAWAYS ➤ CPN is a blockchain-based protocol that enables institutions to settle international payments using USDC and EURC. ➤ It matches licensed financial institutions and settles transactions through smart contracts and APIs. ➤ CPN offers faster settlement, lower fees, and transparency compared to traditional payment networks. ➤ Some of the challenges facing CPN include onboarding complexity, potential regulatory friction, and reliance on blockchain infrastructure.
| Aspect | Circle Payments Network (CPN) | Traditional bank network (SWIFT) | PayPal and other similar fintech platforms |
| Settlement speed | Near-instant, 24/7 on-chain settlement | 1–3 business days; dependent on banking hours | Instant within the platform; slower for bank withdrawals |
| Operating hours | Always on, no cutoffs | Business hours only; closed on weekends | 24/7 app access; bank-linked delays |
| Cost | Low fees; often <1% including FX | High fees ($20–$50 wires + FX spread) | Moderate fees; FX markup around 3–4% |
| Transparency | On-chain visibility; real-time status tracking | Opaque routing; limited end-user visibility | Partial transparency, controlled by the provider |
| Reach | Growing global network; multi-lateral connections | Broadest reach, but depends on correspondent bank relationships | Large user base; closed-loop system |
| Currencies | USDC, EURC; converts to local fiat via partners | All major fiat currencies supported | 20+ currencies supported |
| Compliance | Regulated participants only; AML/KYC enforced | Strict compliance by banks; regulator oversight | Licensed MSB; platform-defined rules |
| Programmability | Smart contracts; supports conditional and automated payments | Manual setups; limited automation | Some automation via APIs; no smart contracts |
| Settlement asset | Fully backed stablecoins (USDC, EURC) | Fiat via pre-funded bank accounts | Internal ledger entries |
| Liquidity | Efficient, on-demand; no pre-funding required | Pre-funded nostro/vostro accounts | Managed by PayPal treasury |
| Governance | Operated by Circle with bank and partner input | SWIFT cooperative governance; slow to evolve | Centralized; PayPal sets policies |
| Throughput | Scalable via multi-chain infrastructure | Limited by banking systems and operating hours | High for P2P; not optimized for large B2B transfers |
Sending money overseas shouldn’t ideally take days or cost a fortune. However, it almost always does if you use traditional cross-border banking routes.
International bank transfers can — and usually do — take more than a day to settle and often involve high fees due to intermediaries, currency conversions, and compliance layers. These inefficiencies hit developing economies hardest.
Circle’s new platform — the Circle Payments Network (CPN) — aims to offer a viable alternative to traditional banking routes. It is designed to connect financial institutions for near-instant cross-border payments using stablecoins like USDC and Euro Coin (EURC).
Put simply, Circle’s network uses digital dollars and euros as the bridge. A participating bank converts local currency into a stablecoin, sends it across a blockchain, and the recipient’s institution converts it back to the local currency — all while remaining compliant.
The result is fast, transparent, programmable payments that feel as instant as domestic transfers. For Circle, this is a step toward making money move as easily as an email.
Announcing Circle Payments Network!A streamlined way for financial institutions to connect, orchestrating global money movement, powered by stablecoins like USDC and EURC for 24/7 real-time settlement.Existing cross-border payments can be slow and expensive.CPN is designed… pic.twitter.com/PIyHKRCPQP
— Circle (@circle) April 21, 2025
“Since our founding, Circle’s vision 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.”
— Jeremy Allaire, co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Circle (via Circle press release)
CPN introduces several promising features that aim to transform cross-border payments:
➤ Stablecoin-powered transfers: CPN uses regulated stablecoins like USDC and EURC as the medium of exchange. These coins are fully backed by fiat reserves and maintain a 1:1 peg to their respective currencies. This helps eliminate currency volatility during transit and provides on-chain transparency.
➤ Integration with traditional finance: CPN connects banks, neobanks, payment processors, and wallets with local payment systems. It acts as a bridge between blockchain networks and traditional rails like ACH, SEPA, and others. Institutions can plug in via a single interface and avoid building multiple bilateral relationships.
➤ 24/7 real-time settlement: Transactions settle within seconds, regardless of weekends or banking hours. This reduces liquidity risk and improves cash flow by eliminating the need to pre-fund foreign accounts.
➤ Lower costs: CPN reduces fees and FX spreads by replacing multiple intermediaries and using blockchain. Transactions involving stablecoins can avoid double conversions, which further improves transparency while lowering per-transaction costs.
➤ Transparency and compliance: All transfers are recorded on public blockchains, which ensures auditability. Only vetted institutions participate, with strict rules on licensing, AML/CFT controls, and security protocols.
➤ Programmability: CPN is built on smart contract infrastructure, and it supports advanced features like escrow, auto-splitting payments, and condition-based transfers. Circle offers APIs to help fintechs and developers integrate with CPN.
➤ Security: Institutions retain control of their assets using their own wallets or trusted custodians. The system avoids centralized points of failure and incorporates bank-grade cybersecurity standards.
The launch of Circle’s international payment network could significantly reshape how money moves globally, particularly for underserved regions.
If you’ve ever tried sending money abroad, you know the pain: delays, high fees, and unclear tracking. Circle’s CPN aims to solve those issues and improve access to financial services. Its likely impact includes:
Remittances often carry fees above 6%, draining income for families. With CPN, migrants could send money that arrives in minutes at much lower costs, even on weekends. This could help increase support to low-income households and meet UN goals of reducing remittance fees.
Many people without traditional bank accounts still use smartphones. CPN connects to mobile apps like Coins.ph (Philippines) and Flutterwave (Africa), to allow people to receive money directly in local currency without needing to handle crypto.
Small businesses often face high friction in cross-border payments. With CPN, they could send or receive funds quickly, which significantly reduces delays, lowers costs, and eases access to global suppliers or customers.
CPN operates 24/7. This means payments can be sent or received across time zones and weekends, helping people and businesses access funds when they need them most.
CPN’s partner network spans Africa, Latin America, Southeast Asia, and more. It could help connect local economies to global financial systems by improving payment corridors in these regions.
Other examples:
Circle Payments Network (CPN) operates as a coordination protocol that allows licensed financial institutions to send, receive, and settle payments using stablecoins like USDC and EURC.
Instead of processing payments directly, CPN orchestrates how value moves between parties through blockchain settlement and offchain APIs. It connects Originating Financial Institutions (OFIs) and Beneficiary Financial Institutions (BFIs) while maintaining compliance and speed.
CPN handles payments by splitting the process into two layers:
➤ Offchain layer: This includes APIs and SDKs that help OFIs discover available BFIs, query fiat and stablecoin pairings, obtain FX quotes, and initiate payment requests. All this occurs before the transaction moves to the blockchain.
Institutions use standard interfaces provided by Circle to perform these steps. Circle also facilitates service discovery by letting institutions broadcast their supported currencies and payout capabilities.
➤ Onchain layer: Once payment parameters are agreed upon, the system finalizes the transaction through smart contracts. These contracts validate the OFI’s credentials, match the transaction with a BFI, and confirm that settlement conditions are met.
The smart contract then executes the stablecoin transfer from sender to receiver on a supported blockchain. This hybrid model ensures flexibility while allowing programmable, auditable settlement.
CPN natively supports USDC and EURC for cross-border transactions. These tokens settle over public blockchains such as Ethereum and others for which Circle has issued USDC.
The system also integrates with Circle’s Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP v2) to allow institutions to move stablecoins across different chains.
A single payment could start on Ethereum, route through a liquidity partner, and settle on another network — without leaving the network’s compliance framework. The architecture keeps token movement and FX conversions transparent and verifiable while enabling multichain reach.
CPN enables each OFI to find an appropriate BFI that can complete a payout in the desired fiat currency. The system matches participants based on liquidity, currency support, and service availability.
For instance, if an OFI wants to send USDC to pay out in Nigerian naira, CPN will route that payment to a BFI in Nigeria that can convert and disburse funds locally.
Matching decisions depend on network policies, pricing, and operational capacity. Institutions can filter options based on FX spreads, payout time estimates, or compliance alignment.
These capabilities turn CPN into a structured marketplace where institutions discover the best counterparty for a given payment corridor.
Only regulated financial institutions can access CPN. Every participant must meet minimum licensing and operational criteria defined in the CPN Rulebook and enforceable through Circle’s network contracts.
Each transaction undergoes checks such as:
CPN uses a combination of secure messaging and credential validation to coordinate this without exposing sensitive information.
Institutions exchange encrypted payloads for required disclosures and maintain audit trails to satisfy local and international laws. Circle does not touch funds or hold custody but acts as a coordinator and verifier.
Some institutions may want to shield payment details from third parties. CPN supports confidential transactions by allowing payment metadata to remain private while still verifying settlement and credentials.
Participants can use zero-knowledge or threshold disclosure protocols (to be introduced in later versions) to share data only with required validators, such as regulators or auditors.
This architecture ensures compliance without leaking unnecessary information across the network.
The on-chain portion of CPN uses smart contracts to coordinate final settlement.
These contracts confirm the sender’s and recipient’s credentials, check FX rates and fees and transfer stablecoins accordingly. The same infrastructure enables value-added logic, such as:
Institutions can also integrate their own smart contracts with CPN flows by building on Circle’s APIs and SDKs.
CPN allows institutions to convert stablecoins into local fiat through whitelisted conversion venues. These venues include private liquidity providers and OTC desks during the early phases. Over time, CPN will route conversions through onchain protocols such as decentralized exchanges and automated market makers — subject to compliance approval.
Routing logic finds the optimal conversion path and selects the lowest FX cost. Institutions can override defaults if they prefer specific conversion partners.
While CPN focuses on core payment coordination, it is designed to support third-party integrations through modular APIs. Future add-ons may include:
Put simply, Circle acts as the technical and governance layer while letting third parties build payment tools on top of the base protocol.
Circle assures that CPN follows a strict “compliance-first” approach. Only licensed financial institutions can participate, and each partner must comply with local laws. This approach ensures every transaction is subject to oversight and aligned with evolving regulatory frameworks in the U.S., the E.U., and Asia.
CPN aligns with the proposed STABLE Act, which enforces reserve transparency and prohibits interest on stablecoins. Circle already meets most requirements, with USDC backed 1:1 and issued via licensed money transmitters. AML and KYC compliance are built into the system.
Circle obtained an EMI license in France and complies with MiCA regulations. USDC and EURC are issued under full E.U. oversight. CPN works within E.U. laws, complements SEPA Instant, and supports full transparency and consumer protection.
Circle already holds a Major Payment Institution license from MAS in Singapore. It can legally issue stablecoins and offer cross-border payment services. Circle is also engaging regulators in Japan and Hong Kong as those markets evolve.
Circle partners with regulated entities like Flutterwave and dLocal to ensure local compliance. Expansion in the UAE and Bahrain is expected via partnerships. All partners are licensed in their home markets.
It is worth noting here that every participant signs a rulebook and agreement, similar to SWIFT or Visa. Circle monitors compliance and can remove violators. Advisors from major global banks help shape governance and risk frameworks.
Circle is actively building out the Circle Payments Network (CPN) through partnerships, geographic expansion, and infrastructure upgrades. Here’s a summary of key moves:
Global partners and design collaboratorsCircle announced 20+ design partners across regions to support CPN’s launch and footprint:
Trusted banking advisors:Circle has engaged Santander, Deutsche Bank, Société Générale, and Standard Chartered as advisors. While not yet active on CPN, they help shape compliance, data localization, and real-world banking requirements.
Standard Chartered’s past blockchain collaborations with Circle make it a likely early adopter.
Recent product developments:
Physical and regulatory footprint:
Payment giant collaborations:
IPO and market credibility:Circle plans to go public in 2025, adding investor confidence and enabling larger institutional adoption.
Competitive positioning:
🚨News Alert: It has always been BCB Group’s aim to be an integral part of the global payments system. That ambition took another step forward yesterday with the announcement by stablecoin issuer Circle of its new Circle Payments Network (CPN). CPN creates a network of fintech… pic.twitter.com/shkmiArmXt
— BCB Group (@BCBcrypto) April 22, 2025
While CPN introduces major improvements to cross-border payments, it still faces several practical and regulatory challenges.
For instance, only licensed financial institutions can participate, which limits access and excludes most fintech startups, remittance providers, and unbanked ecosystems.
The onboarding process is also complex, considering participants must pass stringent compliance checks, including AML, KYC, and sanctions screening.
Technical integration presents another potential hurdle. Many institutions still rely on legacy infrastructure and may struggle to connect with blockchain-based systems or implement smart contract logic. Network adoption depends heavily on Circle’s ability to onboard a diverse and global set of counterparties.
To cut a long story short, CPN can reach its full potential only if Circle expands participation, improves developer tooling, and addresses jurisdictional concerns across different regulatory environments.
Circle is building infrastructure that could redefine cross-border payments. That said, the success of CPN — or the lack thereof — will ultimately depend on adoption, trust, and regulatory clarity.
If it pulls off doing what it has so far promised, sending money abroad might truly become as simple as sending an email. If that happens, it will definitely open up new doors to greater inclusion and opportunity worldwide.
CPN is a blockchain-based payment coordination protocol developed by Circle. It allows licensed financial institutions to send, receive, and settle cross-border payments using stablecoins like USDC and EURC. The network combines offchain APIs with onchain smart contracts to manage transactions.
An Originating Financial Institution (OFI) converts fiat to stablecoins and sends funds through a smart contract. The system matches this OFI with a Beneficiary Financial Institution (BFI) that can convert and disburse funds locally. All key steps are validated and executed onchain for transparency and auditability.
CPN enables 24/7 real-time settlement, reduces transaction fees, and improves cross-border payment efficiency. Institutions can embed logic into payments using smart contracts, which allows automated actions like escrow or multi-party distribution. The system also supports multi-chain stablecoin movement through Circle’s cross-chain protocol.
Only licensed institutions can participate, which limits broader access for now. Onboarding requires strict compliance with AML, KYC, and regulatory rules. Technical integration with onchain systems may also pose a barrier for legacy institutions.
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