Circle, the company behind USD Coin (USDC), announced the integration of its stablecoin with Brazil’s PIX and Mexico’s SPEI real-time payment systems. 

With this development, it is now possible for businesses in these two major Latin American economies to convert their local currencies—Brazilian Reais (BRL) and Mexican Pesos (MXN)—directly into USDC without needing international wire transfers. 

The integration is expected to improve efficiency, reduce transaction times, and cut costs for companies engaged in cross-border transactions, remittances, and corporate finance.

Bridging USDC to Local Currencies

Circle's integration with PIX and SPEI offers companies in Brazil and Mexico a direct link between their local currencies and USDC.

Before this integration, cross-border transactions often involved lengthy processes and high costs due to the need for international wire transfers and currency conversions. Now, companies can transfer funds in minutes instead of days, improving liquidity and minimizing settlement delays.

In Brazil, nearly 95% of the country’s $640 billion annual foreign trade in goods is conducted in dollars, making this integration highly beneficial for businesses. Likewise, Mexico, one of the U.S.’s largest trading partners, has over $800 billion in goods and services trade annually. 

Further, the U.S.-to-Mexico remittance corridor is the world’s largest, with $63 billion in remittances sent in 2023. This accounts for about 4% of Mexico’s GDP. 

Circle’s integration with SPEI allows users to convert Mexican Pesos directly into USDC, reducing transaction times from days to minutes and making remittances more cost-effective.

Brazil, too, stands to benefit from this new development. With over 29 billion transactions made using PIX between January and June 2024 alone, the integration of USDC with PIX is expected to drive further growth in Brazil's already robust electronic payment ecosystem.

Circle’s Broader Global Expansion Strategy

This latest integration is part of Circle’s larger strategy to expand the use of USDC globally. Circle has been actively forming partnerships with banks and payment systems in key markets to increase the adoption of USDC. 

Recently, Circle partnered with Sony Block Solutions Labs to bring USDC to Sony’s Ethereum layer-2 blockchain, Soneium, and plans further integrations with additional blockchain networks, including the Sui Network.