Circle, the issuer of USDC, the second-largest stablecoin, plans to enter about 40 emerging markets. CEO Jeremy Allaire told Reuters this on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank meetings in Bangkok. The one it hits hardest is Tether, because USDT holds almost 60% of the market and that is exactly the ground Circle wants to grow on.
Where Circle is heading and on what money
Allaire named the target regions. They are Southeast Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa. In his words, demand there is organic, as people and companies look for access to the internet economy and dollar settlements. The country count differs slightly between sources. Decrypt, citing Reuters, writes about 40, while CoinDesk names 50 in its text. We stick with the smaller figure from the agency's direct quote.
The resources are already lined up. Circle agreed to buy Singapore payments firm Tazapay for $400 million, which opens local banking and payment networks across more than 100 markets. Another $100 million in strategic investment came from Binance. In July the company won a US federal trust bank charter. And its own network Arc, according to Reuters, has already been picked up by BlackRock, Visa and Standard Chartered.
Why USDT is the rival here
About $73.3 billion of USDC is in circulation now, up 19% from a year ago. Market share is still modest, though. Roughly a quarter against almost 60% for USDT. In the countries Circle is targeting, USDT took root long ago through P2P platforms and exchange offices, and moving people to another token is harder than opening an office.
That is why the bet sits on Tazapay. Local banking rails let Circle sell a transfer rather than a token, with the stablecoin working invisibly for the client. For Tether this model is awkward: its strength is a network of traders and cash points, not licenses and bank partnerships.
There is a flip side. Banking rails mean reporting, customer checks and dependence on local regulators. What takes minutes in P2P can take days at a bank. If Circle cannot keep the speed, users will simply stay with the token they are used to. That is why Allaire talks about scaling, not about a quick grab of someone else's share.
How the market reacted
The reaction to the statement itself was muted, and that is logical. An expansion into dozens of countries does not change a company's balance sheet in a day: licenses, banking partners and local regulators move slowly, and the Tazapay deal is still going through the required approvals. The market prices not the promise but the speed at which USDC circulation starts growing outside the US.
The day was jittery for the whole market. Bitcoin traded near $82,000 after a brief dip below $80,000, and equities were shaky. Circle shares (CRCL) closed Friday at $82.25, down 5.4%, according to CoinDesk, even though the expansion news came out the same day. For the stock, the general mood weighed more than plans for new countries.
For CRCL investors, numbers matter more than statements. Circle has not yet shown how much USDC circulation comes from the new markets and how much from US institutions. Three things are worth watching.
- Whether the USDC share climbs above a quarter of the market over the next quarters.
- Whether the Tazapay deal closes on schedule and with what conditions from regulators.
- How much of the new circulation comes from AI agent payments and how much from ordinary cross-border transfers.
Law, banks and AI agents as demand drivers
Allaire named three factors. The first is regulatory. The GENIUS Act, due to take effect in the US in January, will in his words give the world "legal digital dollars". The second is competitive, since banks are building their own stablecoins, and Allaire takes that calmly. The third is brand new, because AI agents, programs that pay pennies for data and services on their own, increasingly settle in USDC. For Circle this is a separate growth line that does not depend on how many people in Lagos or Manila are ready to hold dollars on their phones.
"There's a very, very long time where the banking industry fought successfully to keep other people out, and I think they are no longer in charge, and the innovators are having their day."
Jeremy Allaire, CEO of Circle, interview with Reuters on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank meetings in Bangkok, October 16, 2026
Banks deserve a separate mention. Their old position was simple: stablecoins threaten deposits. Now large institutions issue their own tokens and tokenized deposits, and Circle no longer competes with them only from the outside. For users in emerging markets that means more options, and for issuers a tougher fight for every integration with a local bank.
Right after the optimism he added a warning. AI raises risks for financial infrastructure, and in Allaire's words, anyone who is not worried has their head in the sand. For Circle, which wants USDC to become the currency of machines, this is not an abstract topic.
Will the Ukrainian market feel it
In Ukraine a stablecoin usually means USDT. For someone who wants to sell USDT for hryvnia, changes in Asia or Africa will bring nothing tomorrow. P2P and exchange office rates are set by local supply, and USDT is still the main instrument there. USDC is available, but far fewer people use it, and the liquidity gap shows in the spreads. But competition between issuers usually pushes transfer fees down, so sooner or later it reaches the spread between buying and selling too.
For the market the trend is plain: stablecoins are moving from the trading core into payments, and Circle is betting that the next stage goes to whoever is first inside the local bank.
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