Circle buys Tazapay for reported $400M to build emerging-market payment rails

Circle is acquiring Singapore-based payments firm Tazapay for a reported $400 million, buying local payment rails and banking relationships across more than 100 markets as it moves into the emerging markets where Tether’s USDT dominates.

Tazapay runs payout rails across more than 100 markets and holds banking and fintech relationships spanning Asia, the Middle East and Latin America. Circle SVP of Payments Irfan Ganchi said the deal brings connections that would otherwise take years to build. “APAC is where a significant share of the demand is, and Tazapay is based there, so yes, that geography matters,” Ganchi said in an interview.

The deal is read as Circle’s entry into stablecoins’ biggest regional battleground. USDC, with about $74 billion in circulation as of September 13, is the second-largest stablecoin and is strongest in developed markets, while USDT is widely used across Asia and Latin America. Martins Benkitis, co-founder and CEO of liquidity provider Gravity Team, said the acquisition is “the latest signal that stablecoins’ next battleground is in emerging markets.”

For Circle’s business, the purchase addresses a gap in its own infrastructure. Its Circle Payments Network (CPN) connects originating and receiving financial institutions and settles transactions onchain, but CPN does not itself hold the local licenses needed in many markets. Owen Lau, managing director at Clear Street, said the acquisition vertically integrates the last-mile operator and can support volume growth for CPN. Tazapay’s licenses and banking ties are what Circle has been buying.

Circle has not officially confirmed the $400 million figure, and no closing date or regulatory approval status is on record. Stablecoins overall held more than $300 billion in circulation as of September 13, with governments putting regulatory frameworks in place as the sector becomes core money-movement infrastructure.